


over and over (till we see the plenilune)

by kumo_is_kumo



Category: ONEUS (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Cerberus Sunny, Fluff, Hades Youngjo, Happy Ending, Hermes Geonhak, Human Seoho, Implied Character Death, M/M, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:13:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 27,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28150692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kumo_is_kumo/pseuds/kumo_is_kumo
Summary: When the God of Death falls in love with a human, the only way for them to be together is for the human to pass away to the Underworld.
Relationships: Kim Youngjo | Ravn/Lee Seoho
Comments: 16
Kudos: 46





	over and over (till we see the plenilune)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [side_stickie_note (lost_stickie_note)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_stickie_note/gifts).



> Hello, everyone! First of all, I would like to say thank you for the chance given to me to present this story to everyone for this gracious, holiday & holy day season; shout out to the mods of WeMoon Secret Santa Exchange! For my beta C, thank you for your unconditional support and ideas, love. For the prompter, thank you for this amazing prompt, I absolutely loved it and this story is one of the best that I could ever come up with. This was written (mostly) for you, and also for everyone else!
> 
> Second; this entire story uses lots of Greek Gods' terms. I borrowed lots of words but mostly I changed and twisted some things so they could fit into the story line.  
> In this story, Youngjo is Hades (the God of Death, the ruler of Underworld), Geonhak is Hermes (the messenger and a leader of souls to cross the river Styx to take them to Hades), and Sunny is Cerberus (the hound of Hades, a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld); the rests are secrets for you to find out hehe.
> 
> I hope you all will enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing this! Merry Christmas, everyone!

Red eyes shine bright in the cold evening. The narrow alley is pretty much empty, save for the two people currently occupying it. The red-eyed man is just standing silently, his face blank while he stares at the woman in front of him. The woman has her eyes wide open, her jaw hangs for a silent scream before all the light disappears from her eyes.

The man watches as the woman drops on the cold, dirty floor. There goes another human's soul that doesn't taste delicious at all. Maybe he shouldn't even come up here today.

He steps back and walks out of the alley; his shoes clacking on the ground. The sunglasses are pulled from the pocket of his jacket and he puts it on himself.

The sun is still bright on this evening, too bright even, for his eyes which are too accustomed to the dark surrounding him. Despite the sunglasses sitting comfortably above his nose bridge, it's still making it hard for him to see around.

Everyone walking past him is busy with their life. They all rush to get back home and he silently inspects them from behind his sunglasses, through the corner of his eyes. 

Humans are useless, weak beings. They are just nuisances to their mortal world. Now that he has tasted the ugly taste, he loses all his appetite and interest to continue his night journey today. Might as well as get back to his realm and have some rest.

The Gate of Hell opens when he ever so easily does a flick of his hand. The dark swirls in the middle of it wordlessly welcome him back home and he steps through it.

It's all cold and dark here. Ah, home sweet home.

"Master, you are back early." The short goblin welcomes him and carefully holds up a tray with a goblet on it.

He grabs the goblet and chugs down the drink until it is all empty. The reddish liquid slips past the corner of his lips and he whips it away with the back of his hand.

"Lost my mood. Humans are so annoying."

He walks along the hallway and leads himself up to the black throne sitting high at the end of the chamber. When he sits down, the red returns to his eyes, and a devilish grin creeps across his lips.

"So, tell me. How many useless souls for us to play today?" He asks, tone sinister and cold.

The God of Death, the sole ruler of the Underworld.

They call him  _ Raven _ .

It is said that just with a single look, he can have you controlled and puppeted. A soft whisper from him will have you frozen and his words are the rules. No one can defy him. His shadow is huge, dark, just like his black wings.

He is the most feared creature of death.

The throne has been his for as long as he remembers. Souls of dead people are all coming back to him. He controls them. He owns them. People die following their destiny, where, when, why, and how, and the souls will enter his realm.

But sometimes, he cheats on Destiny too. Just because he can. Just because… he is the ruler of the Underworld? Who can deny him when the consequence is something no one wants to face? Definitely, no creature would try to come his way.

*

The Gate of Hell opens and closes whenever he wants to. He has full access to it and it's so beneficial for him when he is in need to have fun in the human world.

Alcohol, sex, and souls. Those three things are what he seeks when he comes up there. The alcohol and sex are just side dishes when he is in the mood, but the souls are what he really wants because those give him more energy. Not that he needs to suck humans' souls every single time, no, he won't die, he is the God of Death after all. Taking the souls and energy is just his trick to annoy the white-clad people up there, those who call themselves  _ Angels _ .

Today, nothing seems out of the ordinary and he steps through the Gate of Hell into the human world. His tasks as God of Death are kinda boring these days, so he is looking for some entertainment while he has the time to.

The sky growls and he sends a stinky look up. So much for having fun. It looks like it's going to rain soon.

Some people start running or walking faster to avoid the rain from falling down while he saunters towards nowhere. Ah, maybe pretending to be a human and buying a cup of coffee wouldn't hurt. Even though the coffee doesn't have any taste on his tongue, he just walks straight to the nearest coffee shop he sees anyway.

Walking out of the coffee shop, he notices that the rain has started falling down for the whole moment he was inside. He clicks his tongue and silently sends a curse to those up there. How could they ruin his plan today with rain?

"Oh no, why should it rain?" A voice is heard, the tone is kinda whiny that it grabs his attention.

A male human, with messy hair on his head, a thick jacket sitting on his shoulder, and a messenger bag hanging loosely on the crook of his arm. He sends a quick look up and down along the human figure. Oh, is this a sign? For him to have fun? Is this the entertainment brought to his sight without him having to search for it? 

A crooked grin spreads across his lips. Ah, Destiny, you fool.

The human starts rummaging into his bag, looking for something without knowing that the God of Death is practically standing less than a meter away from him.

"Mister?" The human calls and the Underworld ruler just notices that it is being spoken to him. He barely does any trick, how come the human is already approaching him all by himself?

He glances aside to give a questioning look to the human. The human, who is smiling so brightly that his eyes disappear, is holding onto a small folded umbrella in his hand. And it is being offered to him.

"Yeah?" He answers in confusion.

"Here, you can use this!" The human offers, which makes him wonder.

"Why? It's raining and you also need it."

"Ah, that," the human scratches the side of his head with a finger. The god follows the movement with his eyes and notices how small his hand is. Pretty cute for a human, he admits.

"You have a coffee cup! You shouldn't waste it. The rain doesn't seem to be stopping sooner, so you will probably need this more than I do. My shop is only five meters away from here so I can just run!" The human says, ending his sentence with a cute eye smile that causes the god to quirk an eyebrow. Okay, that one certainly is cute.

"Okay, I guess."

The human brightens up even more and bows his body.

"I'll be going! Be careful on your way, mister!"

He lifts his messenger bag above his head and then he runs under the rain without caring about getting wet.

The God of Death watches as the human practically skips his way towards a shop just across the coffee shop and then his eyes direct themselves down to the umbrella currently placed in his hand.

Hmm. Interesting human. Gotta play for a bit then.

*

The human is working at a bookstore, he hums, as he inspects the currently empty shop. The male human from before walks straight to stand behind the counter. He appears to be wet, actually pretty damp from being under the rain even though it’s already passed a little while. The God stays invisible as he stands in front of the shop window, watching the small human wiping his messy hair with his hand.

There is another human standing not so far from where the counter is, holding onto a few books while idly chatting with the other. Those two seem to be friends. 

As he looks around the bookstore, it seems pretty cozy with a few small tables for people to sit and read the books. There is even a small corner of drinks and sweets. Overall, it looks to be a place that God of Death would never visit, but here he is.

A lopsided, wicked grin spreads across his face. Okay, he knows what he is going to do next. It’s going to be so much fun.

The moment he flicks his fingers to make himself disappear, the bell hanging on the door rings and the human holding the books whips his head to see who’s coming. 

No one is there.

*

It’s all just a pretense. Clad in a normal human long coat and fake glasses sitting on top of his nose bridge, the God of Death walks into the bookstore as if he has just found this place. He has quite a good face, so putting on an act doesn’t seem to be difficult for him.

The bell chimes when he pushes the door as he enters the place, and the smell that greets him almost instantly is the smell of milk tea. Which is pretty nice for his sense actually.

"Welcome to Sweet Books!" A voice greets him out of nowhere and then the figure springs up from under the counter. It is the human male from the day before.

Recognition flashes across the human's whole face and he points a finger up.

"Oh, it is you, mister!" The human exclaims in surprise.

"Hello, fancy meeting you here." Fancy what, he is practically following this little human.

The human quickly steps away from the counter to greet him closer. Once standing in front of him, the god can actually notice how small the human is. Clad in a mere big grey hoodie, he looks pretty much adorable.

"I haven't gotten the chance to thank you for the umbrella. Thank you so much."

The human brings his two hands up, fingers barely peeking under the long sleeves, and shakes his hands no. Topped with that same eye smile and a wide grin.

"No need to thank me, mister!"

"Still, I think I owe you something… Seoho?" The god says while staring at the name tag attached to the hoodie.

"Ah," the human,  _ Seoho _ , realizes where his eyes are at and he fingers the edge of the name tag.

The God of Death smiles lazily at the sight of the human fidgeting in front of him. Pretty cute for a mortal. Too bad that the soul will be gone soon the moment the god is bored with this game.

"I can treat you to something delicious sometime later. What do you think?" The God of Death proposes and he is actually not the type of person who prolongs his game this way. Maybe just for this time. 

A healthy, pinky warmth spreads all over the human's face and that alone is enough to quirk a small smile from the god. Innocent and pretty cute type of human.

"O-Okay, I guess." Seoho murmurs under his breath. 

"So," the god looks around the place, "I have to find a gift for my friend."

The human lights up at that. "Does your friend love reading? What kind of books does your friend like?"

"Something fantasy, I suppose." Which friend, what fantasy, what kind of pretense that he is doing right now, it's getting ridiculous as time goes by.

"Okay, follow me, mister…? I didn't catch your name?" Seoho asks carefully while looking up through his eyelashes.

The god wonders. It is going to be strange to tell that his name is  _ Raven  _ and that the name is just as dark as his occupation which is the God of Death. Maybe he should fake a name? Using Raven as a name seems pretty weird and he doesn’t need to induce any unwanted attention for the short while of fun he is going to have.

" _ Youngjo _ ." He blurts out a name. He is not sure where that name is coming, but it sounds just right on his tongue, flows just so easily past his lips. Weird.

"Ah, okay, Youngjo… follow me! This is where we put the fantasy section of books!" The human grins and walks away towards one shelf at the corner of the store.

The god wonders why, but the foreign yet familiar name sounds very pleasing coming from the human. But that might be only his favoritism over this one certain human. He has always been appreciative of his play thing anyway.

He trails behind Seoho, who is now looking up at the shelf while humming slightly to himself, seemingly trying to find a certain book that he thinks might fit the god’s taste. All the while, the god takes his time to appreciate this cute little creature. A pretty small human in his opinion, but not to the extent of being midget; still cute overall. The tiny fingers tapping at the bottom lip while those said lips mumble incoherent words? Oh well, he certainly is coming from the dark side of the world, because he is starting to imagine bad things he can do to this human.

“Oh!” The human makes noise, going to stand on his tippy toes to reach for a book that seems to be pretty far from his reach. The tip of his fingers touch the back of the book, but still unable to grab it wholly. 

Raven, or in this scenario--Youngjo, presses close to help him grab the book. The human smells pretty nice with this close proximity between them. He can feel the warmth radiating from the human’s back which is currently pressed against his chest. The smell is so nice, he can dwell in it for a long time.

Seoho turns around almost abruptly, the tip of his ears reddening when he realizes how close they are. Youngjo offers a simple lopsided smile, trying to act nonchalant to cover how badly he wants to bury his nose into the human’s neck. Like, he smells so fucking good, he wonders how.

“Uh, yes, that’s- that’s the book…?” Seoho says, the end of his sentence heading straight to a questioning tone. 

“Yeah? Let me take a look.” The god says while bringing the book closer so he can take a better look. Not that he is reading any mortal book, but he pretends to be interested just to keep his pretense, all the while still cornering the little human between himself and the bookshelf.

Seoho waits patiently, two eyes blinking innocently at him. Oh, how much the god wants to take him and have with him right now. But no, it’s a bit risky, and he wants to have more fun in the human world anyway.

“It’s a pretty nice book judging from the summary.” The god says, nodding his head, and when he sees the human’s eyes glimmering in excitement, he knows that he’s got him already.

“Would you like me to wrap it for you? I can help with the pretty wrapping! Is it for a birthday gift?”

He holds back a snort. No one in the Underworld ever celebrates birthdays, because they are all dead. If it is, they would most likely celebrate dead day instead of birthday.

“Sure.” He hands the book back to the human, who happily accepts it back.

Seoho skips his way to the counter and starts tapping into the cashier machine, before going to look for a good wrapping paper that fits the occasion. The God of Death walks to the counter and waits patiently, watching the human sticking his tongue out in concentration while wrapping the book with the wrapping paper and ending it with a nice blue ribbon.

“Here!” He hands the nicely wrapped book with both hands, and the god can’t help the chuckle this time. He accepts it and he makes sure to touch the human’s hands, just to see him getting flustered all over again. 

Seoho’s mouth hangs slightly at the touch, before he regains himself back to accept the money being offered to him.

“So,” the god leans his elbow on the counter while offering a smile, “when do I get to take you out for a cup of coffee? I want to thank you for the umbrella, really.”  _ Yeah, because if not for that, I won’t get you as my play thing. _

“Ah, that,” Seoho stumbles over his own words, little fingers flailing around to cover his sudden nervousness, “I- I work every day here except for Saturday and Sunday, so, um,”

“Sunday it is then?”

“Oh, y-yes, that’s fine.”

Youngjo gives a smile that he knows is killer and effective to turn humans into a puddle of goo and right away, the redness all over Seoho’s ears are pretty much giving it away.

“Alright, it’s settled. I will come back sometime in a few days for another book. See you later, Seoho.” He reaches to tap the sleeve-clad hand of the human and he enjoys the surprised flinch coming from the human.

As he walks out of the shop with a whistle, he can already imagine so many things to trick the human deeper into his trap. Oh, this is going to be so much fun.

Not so long after the door shuts, it is being pulled open again and the bell chimes loudly.

"Seoho, I am backkkkk,"

"Oof." Seoho stumbles forward when arms wrapped around him and face snuggled right into his back.

"Why are you so silent? Wait, why are you blushing? What happened?"

"Dongju, you missed something so important," Seoho squeaks while holding his friend's shoulder, shaking it repeatedly.

"What is it? What's happening?"

"I… someone so handsome might want to take me out for a friendly date!" Seoho shrieks, hands coming up to palm at his warm cheeks.

Dongju frowns. "Someone handsome? It is not me?"

"You are a wholesome cutie," Seoho tuts and reaches to pinch his chubby cheeks, much to the other's dismay.

"Okay, so who is this someone? How come I didn't get any story?"

"Oh, he just walked out of here! Didn't you see him?" Seoho points to the door, in which Dongju quickly runs towards to sneak his head out.

There are a lot of people walking along and he doesn't know which one that he should focus his attention on.

"Which one?" He whines while walking back inside, "I didn't see anyone."

"He is tall! And handsome! And kind and has a nice voice!" 

While Seoho goes to squeal his heart out, Dongju's smile drops and a frown replaces it on his face.

He did see someone, but he is not really sure.

*

The God of Death walks into the Gate of Hell with his three-headed hound by his side, and walks out with a white pomeranian puppy leashed to his hand.

It is a pretty contrasting sight to see the scary, killer looking of the three-headed hound to turn into a small harmless puppy to mortal's eyes. The creature who usually has fire flashed from its eyes, now is just looking like any normal dog with innocent black puppy eyes and a tongue sticking out of its mouth.

The God of Death chuckles lowly at the display of his pet. Cerberus looks pretty excited to be out of the Underworld even if it is just for a pretense.

"Don't get used to this. If the plan fails, you are going back to guarding the gate." 

The puppy whines at his words and he rolls his eyes at it.

"Shut up, you are just looking pretty cute right now, Cerberus. Wait until the others see you right now. You are going to be so embarrassed."

Cerberus, who is now only a puppy, barks at him.

"Let's go." The god pulls him along.

Humans love puppies, so it is only normal that this one certain human will also love his hound. He does inspect the human's schedule, pretty stalkerish he knows, but it's just so entertaining. He knows where the human lives and works, and he already knows that the human usually will be jogging around this moment. Him using Cerberus as bait is just to test it.

The god takes his pup to walk around the neighborhood, as if it's the most normal thing. If only people can see that it is not a normal handsome human walking his dog, but the God of Death walking a three-headed hound, it's going to be pretty chaotic.

He can sense it, he can sense the human's presence. He is close, getting near, so the god pretends to be sitting on the bench with the dog waiting patiently by his feet.

"Be nice, Cerberus, or I will starve you for a day."

The dog whines again at the threat. 

"Oh? Youngjo, no?" There comes the human's voice.

Keeping up a facade, the god lifts his head.

"Hello, Seoho. Fancy meeting you here."

The human is clad in a thin t-shirt and a jogging short, which makes him look pretty buff when he is out of his hoodie. The god makes a mental note that he prefers the human in a hoodie though. He looks cuter.

"Is it your dog? Are you walking it?" He asks with a wide smile as he steps closer.

A careful, tentative hand ever so slowly moves closer to try and touch Cerberus, and the god watches intently at how his hound is going to react. If Cerberus bites off the human's hand, it is going to ruin his entire plan.

Cerberus as a dog goes to sniff on the open palm, before it quickly turns into one excited puppy with tongue out and wagging tail. The god lifts an amused eyebrow at the hound.

"It likes you. It doesn't usually let any stranger close." He comments, mildly surprised that Cerberus could be this tame.

Seoho laughs and lets the dog licks his palm, before he welcomes it hopping onto his lap.

"What's its name? It's so cute!" He giggles when the pup even goes to lick his chin.

Name. Think of a name. Cerberus won't be a kind name for a mere pomeranian dog.

"Uh, Sunny," he answers while staring at the bright sun, "Yeah, its name is Sunny."

"Sunny, what a bright name for a cute dog like you!" Seoho exclaims. Though it’s a bit weird, Cerberus seems to have taken a liking to the new name because it barks in excitement. Such a new display of character, the god stares in amusement.

Seoho looks up from where he is currently kneeling down, smiley eyes looking so adorable and lips stretching up in a wide grin. Still with an excited Cerberus in his arms.

“Your dog is so cute, really!” The human says, followed by a surprised, happy giggle when Cerberus licks his face upon being called cute. If the hound ends up being spoiled after this, he is certainly blaming it on the human.

“It is not always cute. It… barks a lot to the people it isn't fond of.” Youngjo murmurs, reaching a hand down to smooth the white fluffy fur of the pomeranian. He might have seen it wrong, but he swears he sees a slight second of the dog snarling to him at the sudden offense.

“Really? You don’t seem to be the scary type, don’t you, Sunny?” Seoho coos at the puppy and it barks at him.

“It seems to be so fond of you. I might think that you are the owner and not me.” He chuckles. Seoho seems to notice it and he sends an embarrassed look. He ever so carefully places the dog down to the ground, though it doesn’t stay still and goes to attach itself to the human’s ankle. Traitor. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

The God of Death laughs, freely, without any pretense. It’s been a while, wow.

“That’s okay. As long as you enjoy yourself, it’s alright. Sunny seems to like you too.”

Seoho grin shyly and nods, carefully taking a seat on the bench. He leaves a gap between them and the god chooses not to mention that. It takes time to earn the human’s trust, he knows.

“Oh, right.” Youngjo glances to the side as he speaks, “What time are you free tomorrow? I promised you a cup of coffee, didn’t I?”

The slightest, cutest blush creeps on the human’s ears. “I… I’m free all day, I suppose…?”

“You don’t sound sure about that.” He chuckles.

“That’s not it!” Seoho denies while waving his palms, “I just… I can fit you at any time?”

“So, you have all time reserved for me, you mean?” Youngjo asks while leaning closer. Seoho turns pinkish all over his face, eyes looking anywhere but the god himself. 

“Cute.”

Seoho turns even pinker at the word and he drags his butt backwards to make more gap between them. He looks clearly flustered and it makes the god want to tease him even further.

“I- I’m- uh,”

Youngjo chuckles. “What about 10 am? Are you awake at that time?”

Seoho nods obediently, hands neat on top of his knees. “Yes, I’m awake.”

“Great. Do you want to meet up at the destination or do you want me to get you from your place?”

“But you don’t even know where I live?”

_ I know _ , he wants to say, but it sounds so stalkerish so instead he settles with, “I will know if you tell me.”

“Maybe… uh, at the destination?” Seoho murmurs shyly.

“Okay. What about-”

Youngjo cuts himself off when he sees a glimpse of something coming at a quick speed, heading towards them, and more of towards Seoho. Out of reflex, he flicks his wrist to direct whatever danger away, and he grabs the human, his palm on the back of Seoho’s head and he pulls him close.

Seoho lets out a yelp, his nose bumping not quite painfully towards the god’s shoulder. He meekly glances aside when he hears a loud dull sound of a ball hitting the tree just a meter away from the bench they are on. The ball bounces a few times before rolling away.

“Are you okay?” Youngjo asks, the frown on his face visible and the sharpness in his eyes isn’t fading away just yet.

Seoho nods silently, still pretty surprised by the sudden turnout of the event. He stares at the rolling soccer ball, and some little boys come running to get it.

“They should have played carefully so they don’t hurt anyone-” Youngjo is this close to rise up from his seat and make his way to scold the boys, but Seoho grabs onto his arm to stop him.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m fine, see? Nothing’s hurt so you don’t have to scold them.”

“But if-”

“Boys will be boys. We were once also like that years ago, right?” Seoho says while offering a tiny smile.

_ I didn’t know you when you were a child. I don’t even know myself. _ Youngjo thinks.

“That’s okay. Let them play.” Seoho grins up and the god heaves a defeated sigh.

“Okay.”

“Thank you… if not for you, I might have gotten a bump on my head, or even passed out.” Seoho says with a clear, tinkling laughter. When he realizes that he is still holding on the god’s arm, he quickly lets it go as if it burns his skin. His ears are red in embarrassment, but his lips are still stretched to a shy tiny smile.

“Thank you, really.”

Youngjo blows a breath he doesn’t know he is holding. He reaches to pat the human on his shoulder.

“You are welcome. You better pay attention to your surroundings.”

“Okay.”

It’s strange, certainly out of his control. Youngjo is not one to move out of reflex to protect a single human. He did it without thinking twice, using his power in the display to direct whatever danger or bad things coming this way. The protectiveness he feels in him, it’s all confusing him to the extent that he can feel his head spinning. And the God of Death has never ever gotten a  _ headache _ .

By the end of it, Seoho excuses himself to go home because he needs to water his plant and the sun’s getting stronger. After waving bye to the human, Youngjo’s smile drops from his face and he glances at his hound who is staring longingly at the back of the human.

“Stop whining.” He says to the dog.

Cerberus ignores him.

*

The clock shows that it’s already 9:58 am and Youngjo waits patiently in front of the coffee house. It’s not yet at the promised time so he can spare the human these last 2 minutes. If by 10 the human still doesn’t appear, he is going to- what is he going to do anyway-

“Youngjo!” 

The call of his name (is it his name, really?) grabs his attention, and he turns his head to see that the human is skipping his way towards him. Seoho is clad in a red checkered shirt and nice comfy looking trousers, with the same wide smile plastered on his face. 

That smile alone is enough to erase all the annoyance that Youngjo once almost feels.

“I’m not late, right?” Seoho asks once he is standing in front of him.

“Nope. I’ve just gotten here anyway.”  _ Bullshit. _

Seoho grins cutely and nods his head. “Okay. Should we get in?”

They settle at a table on the corner and once they sit comfortably, does the god finally let the compliment run past his lips.

“You look nice.”

Seoho blinks his eyes, before the tip of his ears turns pinkish. Again.

“T-thanks.”

“Nice and cute. I mean it.” Youngjo says with a smile while leaning forward to place his elbow on the table so he could prop his chin on his palm.

The human huffs softly, palms going up to cover his cheeks. “You look nice too.”

“Yeah?” Youngjo offers a lopsided smile. Seoho steals a glance up through his eyelashes, shy and cute.

“Yes.” He smiles.

It’s a comfortable silence after that, with the god watching every single movement from the human sitting across him, and the human watching the people walk by outside of the coffee house. Their order comes not so long after and Seoho thanks the employee before reaching to hold the cup with both hands.

“Cold?” Youngjo finds himself asking.

“No,” Seoho shakes his head, “I just enjoy the warmth.” He answers while giving that freaking cute eye smile again.

“Hmm, is that so.” The god smiles.

He pays extra attention to the way Seoho sips on his caramel milk tea, bit by bit to try the taste on his tongue, before chugging a bit more down his throat. He is not sure, or maybe he is just being biased, but whatever Seoho doing is so fucking adorable. And he never feels this attached to his plaything.

"Oh, this is your umbrella." Youngjo says while handing the folded umbrella to the human.

Seoho stares, "Ah, you don't have to…"

"This is your belonging, I have to give it back to you." The god says while handing the said thing to the human. Seoho accepts it with a shy smile.

"Thank you for the umbrella, once again. It really helped." Well, not really, he didn't even use it.

"I'm glad to hear that." Seoho says while clutching the umbrella to his chest.

"Do you go around offering your umbrella to anyone you see?" It's just his curiosity though.

Seoho shakes his head. "No, I have never done that before. Only to you." Then he seems to realize what he had just said because he quickly adds, "I- I mean, I just accidentally saw you standing there with a cup of coffee in your hand and I thought that it would be such a waste if your nice coffee was ruined because of the rain."

"Hmm." Youngjo hums while grinning. He enjoys seeing the human flush in embarrassment.

"I am being honest!" Seoho shrieks softly, "Stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like… like you want to embarrass me even further!"

The god chuckles. "I don't, though?"

Seoho puffs his cheeks at him, as if silently asking ' _ then what? _ '

"I am staring… as if you are the most precious human being ever. And I don't think it's wrong anyway."

The human chokes at the sudden words of flirting, milk tea splutter all over his lips. Youngjo laughs and grabs a few napkins, offering them to Seoho, but the human doesn't seem to notice it with the way he is wiping some drops on his trousers.

Youngjo lets out a soft sigh fondly. He leans forward and dabs the human's lips with the napkin, causing the human to squeak and back away in surprise. The pink over the apple of his cheeks indicates that he is shy.

The god tilts his head, feigning innocence. Seoho makes a strangled noise at the back of his throat and he shakily grabs the napkin to do it on his own.

"T-thanks." He mumbles in a tiny voice, but Youngjo can see the telltale smile at the corner of those lips.

Embarrassing moment aside, Youngjo listens to the human describing his life in a simple way. He now knows that Seoho is working at that small bookstore from Monday to Friday, together with his friend who is doing more deliveries. He also learns that Seoho is a whole lot of bubbly mess, with messy unruly hair, 24 hours eye smiles, childish giggles, and all tiny fingers under those long sleeves. 

Like… he is the exact opposite of the human that the god usually looks for. He usually lands himself along the street where prostitutes and unsightly adults hang around, because he knows it is going to be easier to bait and lure them under his control. They will look into his eyes and easily fall under his trap, being powerless and defenseless.

But with Seoho… It's a whole different story.

It's strange because it feels like  _ he _ is the one being under control.

He is the God of Death. He can take any soul, anytime, anywhere, anyway he wants.

_ Seoho _ ; he controls the God of Death only with his eye smiles and his giggles.

It's definitely not in his plan and he is not sure how to stop it, but he is already so deep in this.

Seoho is one precious little human and Youngjo for once feels  _ bad _ that he ever thinks of playing with him. He is not sure what changes his mind so easily, considering that he barely knows this human and getting attached is certainly not in his plan… but it just kinda happened.

It happened beyond his control and somehow… he is okay with it.

Seoho waves his hand in front of his face and it breaks him from his train of thought.

"Sorry, just suddenly thought of something." 

The human looks worried. "Am I boring you? Should I just shut up?"

Youngjo shrugs. "No, it's not you. I just got distracted by something." Then he notices the empty cup just beside the human's hand.

"Do you want more? Should I order again?" He rises up from his seat, yet Seoho is quick to hold his arm to stop him.

"No, it's- it's okay." Seoho says while pulling his hands away, shy. "Can we take a walk around? The cake feels too heavy in my stomach."

Youngjo laughs and glances at the empty plate that was once filled with a thick, tall strawberry shortcake.

"Sure."

They walk along the sidewalk chatting idly about nothing in particular. The god barely understands what the human is talking about, but he enjoys listening to him and his voice. It's soothing and calming him and the fire in his chest. Something so foreign, unfamiliar to him, but easily accepted into his mind.

Seoho is clearly something. He is not a mere average human with eye smiles; he definitely has some kind of power to be able to tame the God of Death's noisy head.

His head is always full, so full of noises. All the souls talk at the same time, complaining, crying, screaming, cursing, mourning, laughing, all hysterical and those drive him insane sometimes. When he is able to ignore those, it's no more like loud whispers on the street. But when he can't ignore them, they fill his every sense and give him a headache. Visiting the human world is another way of escape that he can have to, at least, distract himself.

Something strange is blooming, something that is hard to believe, something that the god hasn't gotten the courage to admit yet, but one thing for now is he is so fond of this human.

"Oh?" Seoho makes a noise of surprise when a drop of water falls on his forehead. With a palm up, he lifts his head to the sky and sees that rain has started to fall.

"Give me your umbrella." Youngjo says. When Seoho doesn't understand his sudden request, the god chuckles and takes the umbrella tucked sideways in the human's bag and opens it up; at the same time the rain falls upon them.

Seoho shrieks in surprise, huddling close to the other to make sure that he is not getting hit by the rain.

The proximity makes Youngjo hold his breath. Seoho's hair is tickling his nose and lips, and the human smells good, so,  _ so good _ that he almost loses control. An arm of his unconsciously lifts up, putting a loose curl around the human's form as if to pull him closer.

Seoho stumbles forward, eyes looking up in surprise. Their gazes meet and it doesn't take a genius to guess that the human's ears turn pink again.

Youngjo laughs softly, the sound ringing in public despite the loud rain hitting the concrete ground.

"Do you want to continue walking, or do you want to find a shelter?" He asks, half screaming to make sure that it can be heard.

Seoho stares for a few seconds, as if in trance, before he blinks his eyes to regain himself back.

"What do you want?" He barely shouts, but Youngjo can hear him clearly anyway.

"I am asking you!" He laughs. Seoho smiles shyly.

"Well, I'm asking you too."

"I would like to continue walking. The rain is too nice to skip. Still with an umbrella, of course." He answers, in which Seoho responds with a soft giggle.

"Okay, I like that! Let's go!"

The umbrella is too small for two adult men, but their arms are brushing together as they continue walking. The weather has turned pretty chilly and the breeze slaps some water drops to their face, yet Youngjo finds himself smiling widely at the sight of Seoho enjoying himself, feeling the raindrops on his palm.

Call it instinct, or maybe he is paying too much attention, but he is still a  _ god _ and he can sense danger.

A car drives at a pretty high speed and there is a puddle of water on the ground not far from Seoho's side. His reflex brings him to change position with the human, all the while keeping the umbrella still above the human.

The puddle sprays on him, mostly on his long coat and boots. Seoho shrieks in surprise and watches as the car speeds away without stopping or apologizing.

"Did you get any water?" The god asks, running his eyes up and down and finding the human is dry and clean, save for a few drops of rain on his shoulder.

Seoho makes some weird, panicked gestures with his hands.

"Enough about me! You are drenched!"

"It's not that bad though, right?"

" _ Not that bad?  _ You are drenched from head to toes!" Seoho exclaims in worry, his hands lifting up to push a few wet bangs from the god's face.

Youngjo stays silent, enjoying being dotted by the human. The look on Seoho's face makes him weirdly elated.

"Uh," Seoho looks around to see where they are, "Do you want to stop by my place to get cleaned up and dry? You are going to get sick at this rate."

He wants to say that he is a  _ god _ and he won't get sick, but he certainly can't tell that. And he gets to visit the place Seoho lives so it's not a problem.

"Sure, if you don't mind."

Seoho fusses over him, repeatedly saying that he should be the one drenched right now. He keeps apologizing over and over, until Youngjo laughs at him and says that it is okay and he doesn't mind at all.

His boots are pretty much drenched when he slips off them, putting them upside down to let the water out. Seoho is already gone into his bedroom he supposes, to retrieve towels and all. Youngjo stands still in the middle of the small but cozy living room, taking the surroundings into his memory and imprinting the nice scent of  _ Seoho _ into his senses. The place smells so nice that he starts to feel lightheaded, as if he is drunk on ambrosia.

Seoho waddles back to him, eyebrows drawn in a frown. He quickly throws a towel over the god's head and starts ruffling the hair, despite the difficulty. Youngjo stills for a second, taken aback by the sudden care, before he ever so gracefully bends his knees so it would be easier for the human to do it.

"Next time it's happening, just let  _ me _ get drenched, okay? It won't be the first time for me anyway."

Youngjo moves his head so he can peek through his messy wet hair and the towel.

"Next time? There will be next time?" He asks cheekily.

Seoho stops drying his hair, surprised by his sudden question. The gap between their faces is not much so it is even easier for the god to see how the pink spreads across the human's whole face.

"Umm," Seoho stutters while slowly drawing his arms back. Youngjo quickly holds his hands and brings them back to his head so he can continue.

"I'm just kidding. There doesn't need next time if you don't want to." He smiles reassuringly.

Seoho purses his lips. "I… I don't mind if there's next time."

Youngjo chuckles. "Okay."

The human tries to hide his smile but it's futile so he just sighs and grins shyly. Youngjo shakes his head in amusement and stays still when Seoho tells him to stop moving.

His attachment to the human is getting worse. It's bad; it's  _ supposed to be _ bad, but Youngjo can't find it in himself to care.

*

“Where are you going?”

Youngjo halts his steps when he realizes that he is spoken to. Glancing through his shoulder, he finds Geonhak, the one leading the souls of the dead into his realm, standing not so far from the throne. The guy has his arms crossed in front of his chest, eyebrows furrowing questioningly.

“Me? Up.” He answers simply.

Geonhak stares at him. “You have been visiting the human world so often lately. What’s so interesting up there?”

Youngjo chuckles. “Oh, so many things.”

“You don’t even tell me now?”

The God of Death waves his hand nonchalantly. “I will tell you later when the time comes. I have to go now.”

“And why are you taking Cerberus with you?”

Youngjo glances at the hound waiting silently by his side. Surprisingly enough, Cerberus has been pretty mild lately; maybe the effect of being taken up to the human world.

“Well, this creature certainly is useful not only in here but up there too.”

“Pardon?” Geonhak asks in confusion.

“I’ll tell you sometime later. Bye.”

Youngjo flicks his fingers and then he is already walking through the Gate of Hell, landing himself at some corner in the forest not so far from the city. Cerberus, now Sunny, is looking up at him with its tongue lolling out. The god narrows his eyes on the pup.

“I warn you again. Don’t get used to this, you got it?”

Sunny makes an excited bark, in which the god laughs and rolls his eyes.

The walk towards the bookstore is short, as he has been walking in big, wide steps. He is impatient. He is not the most patient god out there, and so he is very, very  _ excited  _ to see his human. Something is attracting him to the human and he is clueless about what that is. Maybe he needs time to find out about that, but for now he’s going to enjoy it.

He can sense the human’s presence before he even sees him. He is alone, he can feel his energy, along in the bookstore without anyone around him. Perfect. 

The bell chimes above his head when he pushes the door open. Seoho lifts his head from whatever he is doing on the counter, and his bright, lively eyes widen up upon seeing him entering the place.

“Hello.” Youngjo greets, gently dragging his hound with him.

“Sunny!” Seoho greets, gaze immediately falling down to the excited pup.

“No hello for me?” Youngjo asks, crossing his arms. The human falters and makes a weird gesture with his hands.

“I- I mean, hello, Youngjo! Nice to see you!”

“You don’t seem as excited as before.” He comments, letting the leash go and the pup rushes to greet the human. Seoho walks out from the counter, bending down to his knees to welcome the puppy into his arms. He laughs when Sunny licks his chin, and he cradles the pup in his arms. Such a pretty sight; if only the human knows that he is hugging a three-headed hound from the Underworld.

Youngjo goes to take a seat on the chair and just gives up. He knows that it’s a good and bad idea to take Cerberus with him. It gives him attention but also gets him the lack of attention. Sad story of the god.

He watches the human play with the pup for a while, cheek against his folded fist, and a lazy smile playing on his lips. Once Seoho notices his silence, the human looks up and finds eyes boring into him, and he becomes shy almost immediately.

“Sorry about that.” Seoho murmurs softly, rising up back to his feet and walking towards him, with Sunny trailing silently behind him.

Youngjo shrugs. “Can’t help it. I have a cute pet.”

Seoho laughs softly, “Yeah, I admit. Sunny is so cute.”

Then he makes a soft ‘ah’ sound as he remembers something. He rushes to the back of the store, disappearing for a minute and coming back with a medium-sized paper bag.

“Here. Your coat from the last time. I washed it already.”

Youngjo takes it, smiling. “Thank you. You didn't have to do that, but thanks.”

Seoho pulls at the chair across him, sitting down and propping his chin with his palms, elbows pressed into the wooden table. Youngjo puts the paper bag aside and mimics the pose, grinning.

“What?” He asks.

The human shakes his head, smiling shyly. “What are you doing here today?”

“Can’t I visit you?”

Seoho smiles even wider, the telltale of blush appearing at the side of his face.

“No, but, you surely have something more important to do than coming here.”

Youngjo lifts an eyebrow, challenging. “ _ You _ are important.”

“Oh, shut up.” Seoho fakes a groan to hide how embarrassed he is. The god grins.

Sunny barks, or  _ Cerberus warns him _ , about the appearance of someone else before that someone even comes. Youngjo stares sharply at the door, looking out for any possible danger that might come this way, all the while with clueless Seoho still smiling down at the barking dog.

The door is pushed open and someone walks in; fair skin, small face, looking so harmless, but Youngjo keeps his guard on high alert.

The human stops at the door, eyes boring into his, as if trying to read him. Youngjo’s not backing down, challenging the human. 

“Dongju, you are back.” Seoho greets.

“Who… is this?” The new human asks while eyeing the god warily. Youngjo feels something is off, he is not sure what it is.

Seoho rises up from the seat, “This is the one I told you before. This is Youngjo. And Youngjo, this is my friend, Dongju.”

“Hello.” Youngjo greets with a nod, eyes still sharp and menacing.

The human, Dongju, gives him the same kind of nod. He is looking as if Youngjo is a danger.

Seoho, who is once again clueless with the tension, smiles happily. Sunny hasn’t stopped barking and Dongju breaks his gaze with the god, only to stare down at the dog who is down right snarling at him. 

Good job, Cerberus. 

“And where is this dog coming from?” Dongju asks, his face frowning.

“This is Youngjo’s dog,” Seoho answers while leaning down to take the dog up into his arms, “Shh, calm down, Sunny.”

“Seoho, you don’t want the dog to bite your hands off-” Dongju tries to warn him, but Sunny becomes instantly mild in the embrace of Seoho.

Seoho blinks his eyes questioningly, lips still in a smile. “No, Sunny is a good pup!”

Youngjo hides back a smirk. His pet certainly behaves very well today.

Dongju nods stiffly. “Okay.”

As if to break the tension, the store phone at the counter rings and Seoho rushes to answer it. 

Dongju walks slowly and retakes the chair that was once seated by Seoho, all the while still maintaining eye contact with the god. 

Seoho comes back, gently giving Sunny back to the owner. Youngjo offers him a short smile.

“I have to go to the back for a while. You have a delivery in an hour, Dongju, so get some rest while you can! Youngjo, enjoy yourself, I’ll be back in a moment.”

Youngjo nods, smiling. “Take your time.”

Once Seoho is gone, the remaining human leans forward.

“Who are you?”

Youngjo lifts an eyebrow. “Didn’t we have an introduction just now?”

“No, I mean, who are  _ you _ ?”

What does this human know?

“I’m Youngjo, in case you missed it.” The god repeats through gritted teeth.

“What do you want from my Seoho?” Dongju presses him. That annoys Youngjo so, so much; that word of possession.

“ _ Your Seoho _ ? Excuse me?”

Dongju heaves a breath. “I have been by his side since forever. Whatever bad thing that you might be planning, forget it. I won’t let you.”

Youngjo feels laughter bubbles up in his chest. “Bad thing? Who do you think you are? What kind of words are you saying?”

The human seems to notice that he is being weirdly accusative and possessive, and Youngjo  _ doesn’t like it at all. _ Dongju backs away.

“I’m just trying to be a good friend. Don’t even think of doing harm to Seoho. I really hope you are not a bad guy.”

Youngjo narrows his eyes on him. He opens his mouth to ask something else, but Seoho comes back while holding onto a box that seems heavy that he is huffing. Youngjo rises up in reflex, helping him to lift it. Seoho offers him a breathless thank you. Dongju watches from the side.

"This will be your next delivery, Dongju! Eat something or get some rest first. The address will be at, um,"

Dongju rises up from the chair and walks towards the door. Youngjo stares.

"Where are you going?" Seoho asks in confusion.

"Gotta find some burger to eat. You want some?" Dongju asks while stopping at the door. Seoho shakes his head no and the other human nods before walking out of the store.

"Hm, that kid never listens to me properly." Seoho murmurs in a pouty tone.

Youngjo hums. "Your friend is… unique."

"Hm? Why do you say so?" Seoho asks with a tilt of his head. That move is so damn adorable.

Youngjo reaches over to pinch his cheek, much to the human's embarrassment.

"He seems to be very… protective of you."

"Ah, Dongju has been doing that since a long, long time ago. We grew up together and I don't remember a time where I have ever separated from him? Like, he is always by my side since I was little so yeah."

The god hums lowly, mind reeling over it.

Seoho gasps. "Did he perhaps say something weird?"

Youngjo grins. "And what if he did?"

"What did he say? Tell me!"

"Nope." Youngjo says, popping the 'p' loudly.

Seoho makes an annoyed noise. "Tell me!!"

Youngjo bends down to take Sunny's leash into his hand, the previous paper bag containing his coat hanging from his elbow. He spins around and smiles, leaning forward until Seoho is backing away with his face in pink, eyes looking anywhere but him.

"I will tell you under one condition."

"What, what is that?" Seoho swallows, carefully glancing at him.

Youngjo grins. "Go on another date with me and I will tell you."

Seoho stutters, he looks like a broken machine while trying to come up with an answer. Youngjo backs away and waits, a smile hanging at the corner of his lips. Even Sunny is waiting patiently.

The human stares between the dog and its owner, before he whines and all.

"A-Alright, alright! I will go on a d-d-date with you!"

Sunny barks and Youngjo claps his hands.

"Sweet. I will inform you later. For now, I have to go."

Seoho's face drops. "You are leaving?"

The god steps closer. "Yeah. Have a meeting with a friend. Take care for now, okay." He reaches to pat the human on his head. Seoho bends his head shyly and nods.

Youngjo smiles and pushes the door, waving at the human. Once the door is closing behind his back, his smile drops and it changes to a frown.

His head is full of questions.

*

"Enjoy your food." 

Seoho beams. "I will." 

The date happens two days after Youngjo comes to visit him again to inform him about it. Nothing fancy, just a cozy dinner at some family restaurant near the human's building. He prefers Seoho's safety and comfort rather than a prestigious but stifling five-star restaurant.

Youngjo watches the human eats, cheeks full of food and lips stretching into a wide smile. He himself doesn't really eat human food but he enjoys the taste sometimes. 

Seoho starts telling him about random and funny things, and about his work that day, and about Dongju's behavior (in which Youngjo's lips do an uncomfortable tick at the mention of the human). Despite that, the dinner is nice, calm, with Seoho swinging his legs and Youngjo capturing them in between his own. Their ankles are locked together. Seoho's ears are pink from the rest of the dinner and Youngjo is too smiley for an obvious reason.

Once again, he senses danger before it even happens. The waitress is holding onto a tray filled with some cups filled with water and his vision is telling him that the cups are going to topple and the water is going to spill all over their table.

With a quick move, Youngjo flicks his wrist and the toppling cups change the direction towards another position. The water spills all over on the floor and the waitress gasps.

Seoho stares in surprise at the incident and the waitress apologizes to all the customers about that. Youngjo taps on his hand to gain his attention back and he puts some food into Seoho's bowl, telling him to eat more.

As the human eats, Youngjo can't help but to notice the small, little incidents happening and surrounding the human, as if it is not accidental at all. Something is off; no,  _ some things _ are off. He is sure about that.

The walk back home is chilly from the night breeze and Youngjo puts his scarf around the human's neck for additional warmth. Seoho insists that he is fine but Youngjo won't take no as an answer. The human huffs in defeat, burrowing half of his face into the scarf and Youngjo is smiling from ear to ear at that.

"Get in and rest." Youngjo says when they stop in front of the building.

Seoho smiles shyly and nods. He wrings his hands awkwardly, not knowing what to do to end the date.

"T-Thanks for today. I really enjoyed it." He murmurs softly. Youngjo smiles and reaches to pinch the human's cheek, feeling how cold the skin is.

"Thanks for going on a date with me. Will I have the third time?"

"Ah, that," Seoho stutters, blushing, "Of c-course! I- I mean-"

The god throws his head back in a laugh. Seoho whines, telling him to stop laughing so loudly or he is going to bother the neighbors.

Youngjo grins and pats the human on his soft, fluffy hair.

"Get inside. Good night."

Seoho nods and takes a few steps back, tiny fingers appearing from behind the long sleeve of his jacket to wave bye bye. Youngjo waves and watches until the human is safe inside the building, before he walks a few steps away and draws a circle in the air. The Gate of Hell opens for him and he steps through, going back home to the Underworld.

Seoho runs back down, holding the scarf in his hand.

"Eh, he is already gone. So fast." He pouts while looking around, then retreating back into his building with the god's scarf in hand, unable to give it back to the owner.

*

Some more dates happened and in some of those, small troubles kept happening and Youngjo had to use his power to prevent it all from falling upon the human. Seoho is still the most oblivious little human and the god wishes to keep it that way.

But again, the dangers are all trivial, not exactly life harming but might cause some wounds. Like that time when they went to the cinema and Seoho almost stumbled on someone's foot sticking out. Or when he came with the human to the mart to buy Seoho's groceries, a few canned food fell down and almost hurt him.

Or like just now, when a couple of books slip out from the shelf and almost fall all over the human, but Youngjo is quick to take the impact. Which in Seoho is complaining about it.

"You should just let those books fall on me." Seoho mutters in a whiny tone while pressing a cloth to the god's forehead to ease the swell. Youngjo doesn't feel hurt but his mortal body certainly still gets the impact of the wound.

"And let your pretty face get hurt? No way."

Seoho makes a face at his words, purposely pressing the wet cloth harder. It doesn't hurt, but Youngjo pretends that it does.

"Ow." He might win an Oscar award at this rate.

The human winces, quickly blowing some air to the swell.

"Sorry." He mutters in guilt. With his face sad and worried, he looks so damn adorable. Youngjo can't help but reach a hand to pinch the puffed cheek.

"It is nothing. It doesn't hurt. Don't worry your pretty little head." 

Seoho doesn't look convinced though. "But look at the swell! It certainly is not nothing at all!"

"Well, you can do something about it." The god says with a grin.

Seoho blinks his eyes, "What can I do?"

"You can kiss the booboo away."

Immediately, red spreads across the human's whole face, and he starts stuttering like a machine.

"What are you talking about??!" He shrieks, stepping back in mild panic. Youngjo chuckles lowly at the display of embarrassment.

"Oh, it hurts…" He pretends to tenderly touch the swell on his temple. He can see the dilemma in the human's eyes and it is so fun messing with him like this. Maybe he is just pushing his luck, considering how shy Seoho can be, but it's just meant to be a joke to see how comfortable the human is with him so far.

Youngjo shakes his head. "I'm just joking, silly. You don't-"

In a blink of an eye, Seoho leaps forward and presses a quick kiss on the swelling wound. Youngjo's words die on his tongue and he looks up in surprise when Seoho leans back, with his face as red as a ripe tomato.

"You…" He finds himself unable to form any word. Something feels warm in his chest, a feeling that he has never ever felt before, as he watches the way Seoho is blushing wholly and avoiding his stare. Damn, the human is so cute.

"It shouldn't… hurt… anymore now." Seoho whispers under his breath.

Youngjo feels the laughter bubbling up in his chest until he is downright cackling, in happiness.

"You are so damn adorable." He says, and in return, the human is pouting, nose scrunching up.

"Don't l-laugh!!"

Youngjo keeps laughing until he is breathless, only stopping when Seoho reaches over to pinch his lips into his hand, turning them into a duck's mouth. 

The human narrows his eyes on him and Youngjo still can't hold himself back from smiling so wide. He peels the human's hand from his lips and brings it closer to plant a soft kiss on the palm.

"Thank you. It doesn't hurt now." He says against the soft skin of Seoho's palm. The human nods shyly. He maintains eye contact for as long as possible, seeing the swirl of embarrassment and fondness in the human's eyes. The sight before him is too soft, too precious-

A loud sound startles both of them and Youngjo wonders how he doesn't sense the presence. 

Dongju is there by the door, slamming his nag down on the nearest table with too much power, obviously.

"I. Am. Back." He says sternly, eyes narrowing.

Youngjo blows an annoyed sigh and closes his eyes in exasperation when Seoho goes to welcome his friend back.

"Dongju, you are back!" Seoho greets, half surprised and fully oblivious to the tension between his friend and the god.

"The payment." Dongju hands an envelope to Seoho who grabs it and goes to save it in the cashier machine. 

Youngjo lifts his eyebrows in a challenging way when Dongju makes a gesture of 'I-am-watching-you' with his fingers. Then he runs to backhug Seoho who is currently counting the bills, all the while giving Youngjo a stare that speaks something along  _ you can’t do this while I can _ .

The god huffs, rising up from his chair all too suddenly and not realizing that his foot accidentally bumps against towers of unpacked books on the floor. The towers topple down, burying his two feet, and Seoho’s head snaps up at the sound.

The human gasps. “Oh no, Youngjo!” He gently pries Dongju away and rushes to help the god in lifting the books off of his feet.

Youngjo listens to Seoho scolding him about looking around him and to  _ stop inflicting wounds  _ on himself, while keeping his gaze on the fuming human behind the counter. The challenging smirk he sends to Dongju is too satisfying.

He is a petty god, but that human is just as petty as he is.

*

The throne room is dark, just like usual, with the torches of fire lighting the whole place. His eyes are closed; the voices are loud in his head, but his attention is actually focused on something else.

Seoho.

That little human who has him wrapped around his little fingers, without he himself even noticing it. It’s just so strange, so unheard of. But then again, how is the life of a God of Death ever normal?

A life as Raven is never predictable.

“It’s weird seeing you looking so concentrated.”

Youngjo flips his eyes open at the sound of the intruder's voice. Geonhak is standing there, leaning back against the door to the throne room. He takes a deep breath to regain himself back. Geonhak walks into the room, looking relaxed.

“What’s on your mind? I haven’t seen you looking like this since so long.” The soul leader speaks before stopping right in front of him.

Youngjo hums. “There is this human and he is making me so confused.”

“What kind of confusion? Elaborate.”

“He is just… too pure. I don’t know. I can’t come up with a proper word to describe it, but he is just way too unreachable. Like, I have become so fond of him that it’s actually scaring me for a bit.”

Geonhak says nothing, but he keeps listening. Youngjo props his elbow on the armrest of his throne, cheek in his palm.

“It was just for fun, at first. Just another soul to manipulate before I took it away after I got bored. That was my plan, and that was what I originally thought. But as I spent more time up there, it gradually changed, without me even realizing it. Something kept happening and it was out of my control that I couldn’t even prepare myself to overcome it.”

He then remembers the moments he saved Seoho from those trivial dangers.

“It was like he was being a target of something invisible. Like, as I paid more attention, it was all safe when he was alone. But when I was with him, small trivial incidents kept happening. It was nothing close to harming, but it just… made me… worried?”

By now, Geonhak has seated himself on the seat. The soul leader has this tiny, meaningful smile on his face as he listens to the story.

“I haven’t heard much from you,” Geonhak slips his words gently, “but for me, you are pretty much whipped for this human, Raven.”

That word is something that Youngjo has already known at the back of his head, but he still doesn’t want to admit it.

“Something is off. Like, something is waiting to blow up,” Youngjo ignores that for now to continue, “but I want to protect him all the time.”

Geonhak shrugs, unfolding his legs from the seat and dropping them back down to the ground.

“I guess you have your answer.” He says, in which Youngjo lifts an eyebrow at him.

“And that is?”

“That you want to protect him. Why? You said you are fond of him. And my conclusion? You are fucking whipped for a mortal, Raven.”

Youngjo sighs, his palm covering half of his face. This kind of acknowledgment is actually something that he is trying so hard to avoid, but to no avail, no matter how far he is running, he is still in the same circle.

“Nothing is stopping you from having what you want, Raven.”

“But he is-”

“A mere human? Then why? What’s so wrong with that?”

Youngjo digs his teeth on his lower lip. He stares as his friend makes his way up to his throne, and then he stands beside him, a hand on his shoulder to give a strong, comforting squeeze.

“For once, you can listen to what you really  _ want _ . Stop denying yourself, or you are going to regret it for centuries.”

Geonhak steps away from the throne and walks to the door.

“Where are you going?” Youngjo calls out for him.

The soul leader lifts a hand to wave without even turning around. “Out. Won’t be back until you settle your mortal’s problem.”

The doors close right after the creature is out and Youngjo ends up chuckling all by himself.

As he steals a glance to the mirror hanging just under a fire torch, he sees the reflection of himself. He sighs and blows a loud breath.

“Okay, I like him. Big deal.”

He flicks his fingers and the Gate of Hell opens right in front of him, waiting for him to cross his way up to the human world.

*

The city is beginning to get less crowded as the sky slowly turns to the color of dark orange. 

The God of Death walks along the sideroad, heading to the bookstore that he already knows so well by heart. He hopes the human is still there, because he still can feel his presence.

Lucky for him, Seoho is still there, hunched over the counter with his head bent down. The human doesn’t even hear him entering the place, too focused on counting the money in the register. Youngjo slips into the store with a smile hanging on his lips. That mortal is so cute, but he should pay more attention to his surroundings, seriously.

By the time he stops right in front of the counter, Seoho still doesn’t recognize him and Youngjo can't help but to try to get his attention. He knocks on the counter and watches how Seoho flinches back.

"Youngjo! God, you startled me!" He shrieks. 

Well, Seoho is not wrong. He is indeed a  _ god _ .

"Sorry, but you wouldn't lift your head even for a bit."

Seoho scrunches his nose. "I didn't expect someone would be coming this late. How am I supposed to know?"

Youngjo laughs. "Okay, okay, it was my fault. Sorry." He pinches the human on the nose. Seoho backs away with a whine.

"Are you done with work? Why are you alone?"

"I am almost done if not for you disturbing me," he sticks his tongue out at the god, "and Dongju went home already. I think he is going to catch a cold."

Youngjo hums in happiness, knowing that there won't be any more disruption. He leans both his arms on the counter and watches the way Seoho puts all the money back into the register.

When the human lifts his head, he is actually surprised to see how close the man is. Youngjo tilts his head, smiling.

"I want to tell you something." He says.

Seoho swallows thickly. "Yeah?"

"Have you ever felt like you are so fond of someone you barely know? It is like you have known them for so long but actually it's just for a while?"

The mortal slowly nods his head.

"Yes? Have you ever felt that? Because I have." Youngjo smiles. When Seoho doesn't answer him, he continues with, "I don't know what kind of power do you have over me, but you are driving me crazy, Seoho. You have me wrapped around your fingers. You have me worrying about you every single day."

Seoho stutters softly, his face a shade darker with pink. Youngjo watches silently at how the human is fiddling with his fingers.

"I… I felt that too." Seoho mutters softly, lifting his head, "I'm not the type to open up to strangers and I am actually bad in befriending people, but you mister," he stabs Youngjo's chest with his finger, "you are an exception. It feels like I have known you since forever. I have become so comfortable around you and it's scaring me."

Youngjo takes the finger into his hand, keeping it still, before deciding to just hold Seoho's hand altogether.

"Really? Even more comfortable than being with your friend?"

Seoho nods. "Even more comfortable than being with Dongju. And he is the one that I have known since forever."

The god chuckles. "I don't know. It's all too confusing to come up with the right words. Where does this take us to?"

Seoho's hand is cold in his hold.

"I… Youngjo, I-"

"I think I like you a lot." Youngjo cuts him off ever so slowly. He squeezes the hand and runs his thumb over the knuckles. "Do you like me too?"

Seoho pauses for a second but then nods his head. Youngjo lifts the hand in his hold up, bringing it to his lips.

"Be my lover?" He whispers against the knuckles, kissing them gently.

He can see millions of expressions flashing across Seoho's face. For once, for the first time ever, Youngjo feels nervous over what the human's answer would be. Sure, he knows that Seoho likes him too, but he doesn't know whether the feeling is to that extent.

He is a god. He is  _ the Raven _ . He always gets what he wants. But one thing for sure, he doesn't think that he can handle rejection.

"Okay." Seoho whispers softly, the tiniest smile dancing on the corner of his lips. There is a light pink blush over his cheeks and the redness all over his ears, but he looks so fucking pretty and Youngjo is this close to swoon.

"Okay, as in 'okay, boyfriend' or 'okay, I'm gonna kick your ass'?"

Seoho laughs, his eyes forming crescents and his pearly white teeth showing up. Youngjo is awed at the sight.

"Okay as in okay, boyfriend." The human says in finality.

Youngjo can feel himself smiling so wide that his cheeks are kinda hurting (and he says he doesn't feel hurt) when Seoho shyly bends his head down. The human squeezes his hand and that is all Youngjo needs to make sure that he is not dreaming (not that he usually sleeps at all).

"Thank you." He whispers, sincerely, while reaching to pinch Seoho gently on his cheek. The human lets out a soft, open giggle at that and swats his hand away.

"Are you done here? It's getting late. Let me take you home."

"Sure."

He walks the human home, holding his hand tightly and fingers tangling together, before Seoho starts swinging their joined hands.

It's a good evening after all.

*

Not many things change ever since they are in an official relationship. The only difference is that Youngjo is extremely ever more fond of his human. He makes sure to come and greet him everyday. He even acquired a mortal phone for himself to make it easier whenever he just needs to listen to the human's voice.

Geonhak says he is whipped. Youngjo can't deny that.

Something, there is something in Seoho that makes him so lovely and comfortable. He has this energy, this aura that makes Youngjo want to see him every single second, to look after him. He hasn't even known the human for so long, considering that his initial plan was only to have some fun with him, but something clicks. They fit so well, just like the perfect pair of puzzles, as if they are made for one another.

Youngjo is not anywhere near poetic, but he can list thousands of reasons as to why he is so damn  _ whipped _ .

"Stop staring." Seoho says without lifting his head from the books he is stacking in the box for delivery.

Youngjo snorts softly. "How do you know that I'm staring?"

Seoho shrugs. "You are too obvious. Is it that difficult to stop staring at my pretty face?" He asks cheekily, presenting his hands under his chin and batting his eyelashes to add the effect.

The god sighs fondly. "Yeah, you are too pretty for me to even look away from."

The human squeaks at the bold answer, not expecting it at all. His ears redden and he huffs a breath, too shy to even lift his head now. Youngjo laughs at the display of embarrassment, honey dripping from his eyes for the affection he feels for this human. His human.

"I wonder though." Seoho starts talking again after a while.

"What is it?"

"You spend soooo much time here. Don't you have a job or something to do?" He asks, hands on his hips.

"Am I not allowed to spend my time with my boyfriend?"

Seoho scrunches his nose to hide his embarrassment, "I- I know but don't you work or something?"

"I have this… empire and I have others looking after it on my behalf." He tries to come up with a proper but vague answer.

Seoho perks up. "Empire? You own such a huge company?"

Well, that's not entirely wrong, but not true either.

"Well, yes, you can say so. I just have to give them orders and-"

The human claps his hands. "My boyfriend is a boss of his own. Wow."

Youngjo chokes out a laugh. "I am." He murmurs while rising up from his seat to approach the human. Seoho grins at him.

"You are pretty young to be a boss already. And an empire? What are you? A king or a god or something?" He chuckles at the joke. Youngjo shares the same laugh, albeit a bit forced. Oh, if only he knew.

"I can be anything you want."

Seoho makes a face at his words. "That's so icky, ew."

"I can buy you anything you want. Just name it." Youngjo cups the human's cheeks in his palms and pushes them together to the center. Se0ho whines with his lips pursed just like a duck.

"Owkhay, lemme goh!!" His words are muffled and Youngjo just has to squeeze the cheeks one last time before letting them go from his grip. He leans for a quick peck on the cheek and Seoho squeaks in surprise.

"Stop playing with my cheeks!"

"Can't help it. You are too cute."

The human huffs and Youngjo just pecks his other cheek to spite him.

"I am back- ooff." Dongju backs away when he notices the proximity between those two. 

Seoho turns bright in pink and Youngjo takes a deep breath to calm himself. That one freaking human keeps disturbing his quality time.

"Keep your hands to yourself, mister. I am watching you  _ all _ the time." Dongju narrows his eyes on him.

Youngjo rolls his eyes in return.

"I can hug my boyfriend anytime I want." He brags, throwing an arm around Seoho's shoulder to pull him close. Seoho squeals shyly, hands coming up to cover his face.

Dongju is this close to fuming.

"What boyfriend? What?!"

"Mine." Youngjo smirks widely, leaning over to leave a wet smooch on his human's forehead.

"Oh, shut up, it's so embarrassing!!" Seoho whines from behind his two palms. 

The god throws one last look to the other human and he enjoys that look of betrayal on the other's face.

"I can't believe this!" Dongju stomps his feet while walking past them, entering the storeroom at the back.

Youngjo can't contain the evil giggles but soon he shuts his mouth when Seoho throws him a dirty look.

"Stop being so mean to my friend."

"You are right. He is your  _ friend _ and I am your  _ boyfriend _ . There is a difference."

Seoho pushes him away. "Don't be so territorial!" He shrieks, face still flushed. "And get away from me! I need to work!"

Youngjo grins triumphantly and decides to leave his boyfriend alone. For now.

*

He is back to his home, sitting on his throne, looking more bored than he usually is.

“I haven't seen you sitting in this place more than half a day lately, with how much time you spend in the human world.”

Raven flips his eyes open to see Geonhak standing there in front of him, looking at him with an amused grin. He sighs in desperation.

“Why do you have to bring so many souls lately? It’s exhausting.”

“You don’t feel exhausted. You are not a mortal, Raven.”

“It’s just a word to describe what I am feeling right now. Why can’t you understand me.” He grumbles, glancing away with a huff. He can hear a soft laugh coming from the other.

“You are acting like a human right now, do you know that? Did you pick a few human traits for all the time you spend up there?”

Raven scoffs, but he can’t help the smile from creeping across his face at the thought of his human lover.

“Ugh, I don’t like that look on you.” Geonhak comments, suddenly knowing that he had said the wrong thing. Reminding Raven about his human will only be the start of so many lovesick stories coming from the God of Death.

“I miss my Seoho. What is he doing right now?” He murmurs with a sigh.

Geonhak has this uncomfortable look on his face.

“Please, not this chat again.” He pleads, but it falls on deaf ears as the god on the throne starts reciting his time spent with his lovely human.

“Usually, Seoho will have his lunch around time like this. He has this weird but cute hobby in creating new mortal recipes that only he can understand. Don’t you think he is so lovely and adorable, doing all the things he enjoys doing without listening to people talking?”

Oh, this is going to take a while, Geonhak thinks. He would want to up and leave, but he has souls waiting at the gate for the God of Death to welcome those in. And when the god is in this state, those souls will need to wait for a little bit longer.

“Should I go there and give him a surprise visit? He will appreciate it, I’m sure. But- oh, I’m stuck here, with you!” Raven lifts a pointing finger to the soul leader, who can only sigh in defeat.

“ _ This  _ is my  _ job _ , sir.” Geonhak answers in exhaustion.

Raven throws his hands in the air, leaning back to the throne and slumping down.

“I’m  _ bored _ .”

“The faster you finish this, the sooner you can go back to the human world. Just saying.” The other comments.

“Nah, I will just bother his work. I will just stay here for a little longer and maybe go visit him when it’s a bit later.”

Geonhak palms himself.

Raven sighs. “It’s weird.” He blurts out, taking the other’s attention again.

“Which is?”

“My attachment. This feeling of attachment. I have never felt like this before and you might be the longest to know me,” he says while looking up to the dark, fiery ceiling, “I don’t know what’s going on with me. Seoho confuses me.”

Geonhak stares at the god. “I thought you are fond of him and that you are currently in a relationship with that human?”

Raven laughs dryly. “Of course, I am fond of him. I am  _ so _ fond of him that it’s  _ scary _ . I don’t think I’m supposed to feel this way towards a single mortal. He is just so far from me, but my mind is so full of him. It’s like he has this… invisible control over me.”

It’s silent for a moment as Geonhak tries to form some proper words to say.

“I would say that… you are catching feelings for him.”

Youngjo snaps his head to stare at his friend. “Me? Catching feelings?  _ Me? Feelings? _ ”

Geonhak nods. “Yeah, I mean, what’s a better explanation of you being so damn attached to him in such a short time? Unless you are the main character of a novel or you have a tragic, dark past with him just like in those dramas that mortals love watching, then I don’t know?” He blurts some nonsense just to shut the other up, but also for the god to at least think better about it.

“Feelings…” Youngjo blows a sigh. “What am I feeling right now? I want to see him. I just really, really miss him. I just want to hold him.”

Geonhak tries to stifle a snort but it’s failing. “Pretty much  _ love _ for me.”

The God of Death stumbles in his seat when he throws his whole body up in shock.

Love.

He hasn’t really thought about that.

Could it be? That the fondness and affection he is feeling for the mortal is  _ love _ , but he is admittedly ignoring it, just like what Geonhak said?

“You want to see him, you spend so much time with him, you don’t mind dressing in those weird mortal outfits, and you are missing him every second. You are weak for him. Don’t you think that you-”

“I love him.” Youngjo mutters, eyes wide open and jaws hanging low. “I can’t believe I have fallen in love with a  _ mortal _ .”

“Same, I can’t believe it as well.” Geonhak stares blankly.

“Oh, wow.” The god blows a breath out in fascination. “Wow. I guess I love Seoho.”

The soul leader rolls his eyes at how the god slowly turns even weirder each day. He looks exactly like an idiot right now.

“God,” Youngjo breathes, “Wait, I’m a god too, but oh wow. No wonder I am so whipped for him.”

He loves a human, a mortal. That’s epic, like, really amazing. Never in the whole centuries he spent his life has he ever imagined to be falling in love in a short time, moreover for a single human. It’s like the whole thing is planned, like fate, like destiny.

He,  _ a god _ , falls in love with  _ a mortal _ .

His smile drops from his face at that thought alone. 

“I have a problem.”

Geonhak groans. “What now?”

“He is a mortal. I can’t have him wholly as mine.” He says in resignation.

Seoho will eventually die someday, but he can’t imagine himself waiting for so long. And not to mention, humans change, and he can’t trust other humans from not trying to take Seoho away from him. And also, when Seoho eventually dies later, he can’t guarantee that his soul will be taken to him. He is scared, oh so scared, of losing his lovely human.

Geonhak clears his throat while standing up from his seat. “You are the God of  _ Death _ . You can finish it with one single move of your hand.”

Youngjo’s mouth hangs open in realization. That’s actually correct.

He can take Seoho’s soul by himself.

“Thanks, Geonhak! I owe you one!” He shouts to the soul leader who has already crossed the gap towards the outer gate.

*

But the question is: how to take Seoho’s soul.

It’s not like he doesn’t have the capability or power; it’s more towards the fact that he can’t do bad things to his lover.

Whenever he is as much as just thinking about the way to do it, Seoho comes waddling towards him and asking about how his day goes, with that cute eye smile and bright tinkling laughter, and Youngjo is just a goner. Like… how is he supposed to do that? How is he supposed to do harmful things to his human?

He tries doing small things, such as inflicting little wounds. Well, that is  _ the plan _ , but it doesn’t go exactly as he wishes. He flicks his wrist to try to drop the books from the shelf to maybe hurt Seoho on his foot ( _ that thing actually hurts his heart more than the target _ ), Seoho spins around right at the time the books fall. The plan fails.

Or that time when he tries to cause the hot water to spill across the human’s hands ( _ this one still hurts him more than the target _ ), at the time the water is about to spill, Youngjo immediately cancels his plan and plays the knight in shining armor. Which in result, his hand is the impact. While he doesn’t feel the pain of his mortal form’s burning skin, he feels the pain at the worry in Seoho’s eyes. 

There are a few more failed missions, which most of the time failed because of  _ himself _ who can’t even bear to see his human suffer. The others fail because of some… unknown reasons. Call Seoho a lucky human, because whenever Youngjo is sure to ‘hurt’ him, nature helps him, as if trying to protect him from harm.

It feels off. It’s like there is this bubble of protection, like, there is a barrier shielding the human from harms. He has his own suspicion since the very beginning ever since he met Seoho, but with how many times he fails on his plans, his suspicion arises way more.

And then there is Dongju, that little human jerk. He always happens to be  _ there _ whenever Youngjo tries to run his plan, and that man's presence is enough to crack his confidence. Dongju is always staring at him, always, like all the time, and is so protective towards Seoho. Oh, some chances have failed because of Dongju too.

He needs to take Seoho’s soul so he can take him to the Underworld, and they can be together eternally. But  _ how _ ?

A tug on his jacket grabs his attention back to reality. Youngjo then realizes that he has been spacing out while he is out on a date with Seoho. Turning to look at the mortal, he finds a questioning stare, even akin to a pout, on the human’s face. Damn, he is so cute.

The sun is setting down and the sky is no longer that bright, only the dark orange and grey all over, but despite that Youngjo still can see how bright Seoho's face is. He looks like a literal angel.

"Yes?" He stops his feet from walking when he notices that Seoho is downright pouting at him.

"You are not listening to me." The human murmurs softly.

He has been in this relationship for quite a few months and despite how happy he is all this time, the look on Seoho's face right now tells that the human is sad at him. And no, a sad Seoho is not allowed.

"Sorry, I just… had a lot in my mind."

"Is it work? Is there any problem?" Seoho, the sweetheart Seoho, is actually worried about him. He doesn't know that the problem is actually the way to make him die.

"Not that big. Don't worry your pretty little head." Youngjo assures while gently pulling down the beanie Seoho is wearing so it will cover his ears even more. It is getting colder these days and he doesn't want his dear to freeze.

Seoho sniffs and nods his head. "Okay, if you say so." 

Youngjo smiles and pats the human on his head. Seoho gives him the same smile before sipping on his drink, while continuing to walk. The god lets out a sigh inwardly. 

"Oh, by the way!" Seoho says, seemingly to remember something, then spinning around to face him; the foam of his drink decorating his upper lip, his smile bright, eyes forming crescents, and the sun as his background… it is all too much for Youngjo to take. 

The sight is breathtaking.

It's beautiful. Seoho is too beautiful and he is  _ his. Only his. _

He steps forward and cradles the human's cheeks. Seoho stumbles forward from the pull, as Youngjo tilts his own head aside to claim those lips in a soft kiss.

_ White. _

_ Bright light. _

Youngjo gasps as he pulls away, eyes wide open. What was that…?

Seoho flutters his eyes open, face red and lips tremble, oblivious to the inner turmoil in Youngjo's head.

"...Youngjo?" The human calls softly, still surprised by the sudden kiss,  _ their first kiss _ , and noticing the way his boyfriend gets all silent. Did the kiss not feel good?

"Oh. Sorry. I'm just relishing in the fact that your lips are so tasty." Youngjo regains himself back, yet his mind is still reeling, "Gotta kiss you again for better taste."

Then he dives in, slotting his lips on the human's ones. Seoho's lips are soft, tender, so sweet that it erupts in his every sense, so lovely, yet he can't even focus wholly on the sensation. He doesn't even notice the way Seoho's tiny fingers gripping tightly on his coat.

Flashes of images run in his head, voices so loud that his ears eventually  _ hurt _ , so many things that are foreign to him; everything is confusing.

Seoho's breath hits the side of his face when he pulls away, lips still parted for a little when he goes for another kiss. The human sighs against him, head tilted upwards following Youngjo's hands cradling it.

_ Laughter. Promises. _

_ White. White. White. _

_ The moon and the stars. _

_ Youngjo. _

_ Promise me. _

_ And your punishment shall befall upon you- _

Seoho gently hits his chest and Youngjo takes a step back with a start. The human breathes loudly, whole face red and flushed, eyes still blown wide in trance. Youngjo then realizes that he has been kissing the human for quite a long time, in order for him to see more of  _ it _ .

"I'm sorry, baby. Are you okay?" He caresses the human's flushed cheeks, and Seoho nods his head, albeit shyly. Those sweet, sweet lips are red, a bit swollen, and Youngjo has this primal urge to dive right back in but he holds himself back.

"Forgive me. I couldn't help myself." He mutters while peppering kisses all over the human's face.

Seoho breaks out into a soft laughter, a hand going up to stop him from doing so.

"You earned yourself your kisses already! Stop it!" He shrieks when Youngjo kisses both of his eyelids. He keeps saying stop but he smiles so wide that Youngjo is glad he doesn't suspect anything.

He cradles those cheeks in his hands, smile on his face, and heart racing in his chest. His heart is  _ actually  _ racing so quickly.

"I love you, Seoho." He admits the feeling that he had realized a while back, but those words now hold more impact than before; after all those  _ memories _ . His heart wrenches in pain.

The mortal stares at him in surprise, certainly doesn't see that confession coming, but the wide smile curling on his lips is a whole different sight that manages to calm Youngjo's heart for a bit.

"Love you too," Seoho whispers shyly. Oh, he doesn't know how glad Youngjo is to hear that.

"I love you so much, I really do." The god murmurs under his breath. It's getting harder to keep his facade, he can't even swallow this tight knot in his throat, but he has to make sure that Seoho is his; that Seoho is safe and sound, right in his arms.

He kisses him softly, and the memories rush again.

Tonight, Youngjo proves his suspicion.

And the answer is there already, in his hand for all this time.

*

The fire flickers when Geonhak takes a deep breath, holding it in instead of blowing it out.

"You what?"

Youngjo massages his temple, frown etched on his face. "I kissed him and I have these memories in my head."

"Memories? I don't understand."

"Me neither, but," he swallows, "but it was so  _ real _ . It was like it happened for real. Towards me, and Seoho. I didn't get all of those memories yet, but I saw snippets of those whenever I kissed him and I can say that I am already half sure of it all."

Geonhak frowns. "What's your conclusion?"

"I can't tell you yet. Not until I'm a hundred percent sure about it. But  _ it was so real _ ."

The soul leader sighs while staring at the difficult frown on the God of Death's face. He has never seen this kind of look on the god's face, for all the time he has known him. This whole thing is troubling him and he knows exactly that it is not a small problem. It is related to the god's soul, either his past, or even his future.

“I haven’t understood any single thing,” Youngjo mutters, “but if it is just as I've suspected, then I’m not going to let it happen again.”

Geonhak swallows. “What are you planning exactly?”

Red flashes in Raven’s irises. 

Pain, confusion, agony, desperation, anger, and love.

“To never repeat the same destiny ever again.”

*

Seoho sighs as he props his chin down on the counter. At this rate, he will have his face flat on the surface already. Dongju walks behind him and reaches to pull some strands of his hair. Seoho yelps and grunts at the dull pain.

“What’s gotten your mood so sour? You barely smile at any customer today.”

Another sigh is heard as Seoho purses his lips forward.

“I haven’t heard from Youngjo today.” He whines sadly. Dongju narrows his eyes.

“What’s that jerk doing anyway?”

Seoho makes a face while rising himself up. He throws a dirty look at his friend. “Why are you so mean to my boyfriend?”

Dongju is this close from rolling his eyes. “Because he is your  _ boyfriend _ .”

“That’s not even a proper reason to be mean.” Seoho scrunches his nose, in which Dongju pinches it.

“Why is he not coming? What did he say?”

“He texted me and said about some problems at work. He was sorry though that he couldn’t spend his time with me today.” Seoho murmurs while reading the text on his phone over and over again. Ever since that last text, Youngjo hasn’t contacted him again until now.

Dongju steals a look at the phone screen to read the text.

“What is his job anyway? I have never heard about that.”

“He said he has this kind of company. Empire he said. And he is the boss. My boyfriend is a boss, you know.”

A snort escapes Dongju’s nose. “Okay. Empire.”

Seoho smiles, “It was a bit weird too when I first heard about it. But then I think again, maybe it’s like in those dramas you watch every night, you know? Maybe he is some kind of  _ chaebol _ who has to keep his identity hidden or people will try to ruin him or something? If that’s so, it’s so cool!”

Dongju laughs loudly. “Believe me, it’s nothing close to that.”

“How are you so sure? He might be!”

“Oh, believe me. He is not even close to a  _ chaebol _ .”

Seoho huffs. “How do you know?”

Dongju’s eyes soften. “I just know.”

His words are ignored by Seoho who once again slumps across the counter to mop over his loneliness.

“You know,” he starts again, once again taking Dongju’s attention, “Youngjo said he loves me.”

Dongju snaps his head towards him, eyes wide as saucers. “He said what?”

“He kissed me.” Seoho whispers, face red and smile shy, “And he said he loves me.”

There is no answer coming from Dongju for a moment, not that Seoho minds. He is so into his memory of his first kiss with his boyfriend, which was so sweet and romantic. He is a sucker for romance dramas so it feels so magical.

He feels a hand in his hair and Dongju is ruffling his hair.

“Do you love him too?” He asks.

Seoho smiles, eyes still closed. “Very. It might be too quick, but I just love him.”

Dongju feels a smile curls on the corner of his lips. The time has come.

"I’m happy for you. Don’t give up on your love no matter what happens, I tell you.”

“Hmm? Dongju?” Seoho calls in confusion when his friend goes to hug him from the back. Dongju buries his whole face into Seoho’s back, just breathing and not saying anything.

“Just… don’t let him go if you really love him.” Dongju murmurs under his breath, arms tightening around Seoho’s torso as if he is afraid the other might evaporate into the air.

“Okay. You are scaring me, stupid. What’s with you?”

“I got too carried away with this drama that I’m currently watching,” Dongju says with a laugh, “I’m imagining you as the main character.” 

“You dumb.” Seoho says cheekily with a laugh while patting on the arms wrapped around him.

Dongju sighs inwardly, the light in his eyes dimming.

A storm is coming.

He can feel it.

*

Youngjo knocks on the glass door, a lopsided smile playing across his face. Seoho startles, spinning around to see who would be coming to the bookstore at this late and when it’s already closed. Upon noticing that it’s his boyfriend standing out there, he smiles widely and skips his way there.

“You came!” He squeaks, throwing his arms around the man. Youngjo laughs and pats his head.

“It’s already so late. Why are you still here and not yet home?”

“I’m just finishing up and checking the last things before I leave. Tomorrow is Saturday and I just don’t want to forget to lock up. Dongju had already left because his mom called so I have the closing up duty. Oh, are you-”

“Baby, calm down.” Youngjo cuts the other, laughing. “Did you miss me that much that you want to tell me so many things in one breath?”

Seoho bites his bottom lip at the embarrassment. He indeed misses his boyfriend way too much after not seeing him for three days.

“I… I miss you.” He admits silently. 

Youngjo coos at him. “I miss you too. Come, let’s get you home.”

Seoho nods eagerly and runs back to grab his coat and bag. Youngjo helps him wear the coat and then wraps the scarf around his neck. Seoho smiles to thank him and even leaps up to kiss him on his cheek. The god feels his immortal heart trembles.

They walk with hands held tightly, fingers intertwined, and Seoho tells him everything that crosses his mind. Youngjo listens intently, nodding, and imprinting that sweet voice in his head.

The journey home is too short and Youngjo reluctantly lets the small hand go.

“Get a lot of sleep, you can rest longer. Good night.” He says while bidding bye with a smile.

Before he could even spin on his heels, Seoho quickly grabs at his arm with his two hands, face frowning. Youngjo wonders what causes the human to look this way. He doesn’t like seeing Seoho frown. A happy smile always fits him.

“Do you want to come in? Sleep over? Just… spend time with me?” Seoho says, trying to appeal to him, “I just… I miss you.”

The god stares and sighs. He can’t help himself from smiling at the desperate way Seoho is trying to make him stay. As soon as he nods his head, the human looks so happy that he starts dragging him towards the gate.

It’s not the first time for him to enter the place, but the feeling is brand new, knowing that the Seoho who invites him in this time is his boyfriend. It’s scary at how fast his feelings changed from that first time until now, but with the theory that has yet to be proven right now, he can see how it’s so quick for him to have a change of heart.

As he stands in the middle of the living room, he can almost see the way Seoho lives his life as a human. He can see him waking up, eating his meal, lounging around, making phone calls, and just being himself; that his heart hurts. The images run before his eyes, just like a well played movie.

Seoho notices him standing still and the human comes up to him, taking his hand to guide him into the kitchen. Youngjo offers him a smile as Seoho pulls some preheat food from the cabinet and puts them into the microwave because he doesn’t feel like cooking, according to his words. Youngjo laughs at the obvious lie; he can literally see through the human and his urge to just spend the time with him. It’s too obvious that it’s so sweet.

He sits on the chair as he listens to Seoho talking his ears off, nodding once in a while whenever the human asks him whether he is listening or not. He can’t shake the smile when Seoho steals some chances to peck his cheek or to curl his pinky finger with his.

The food tastes good, a typical packed meal that none of them truly cares about. Seoho sits beside him, being too clingy to lean on his side with a reason for trying the food he has because  _ they have different flavors _ . Youngjo smiles in amusement and just opens his mouth whenever the human tries to feed him whatever it is.

Seoho lends him some comfy clothes so he can get out of that shirt and slacks. As he sits at the edge of the bed, he looks around to see the whole content of the bedroom. There are some photos of Seoho as a kid, teenager, and adults, and most of them are with Dongju. There are books here and there, DVDs, tangled charging cables, and some keychains of moons and stars hanging at his dresser.

Moons and stars, huh.

Some things just didn’t change.

“What are you looking at?” 

Seoho’s voice awakens him from his thought, and he doesn’t even realize when he has walked to touch the keychains. As he turns around, Seoho is approaching him, clad in a big sized hoodie that makes him look so comfortable and cuddly. Youngjo just welcomes him and hugs him tightly, burying his nose into the human’s damp hair. Seoho makes a noise yet he hugs him back.

He spends his time for a moment, hugging the human so tight that he can feel him melt into him.

“Do you want to watch a movie with me?” Seoho speaks into his shoulder, voice muffled into the fabric. Youngjo just nods.

They sit in the bed, arms pressed together and Seoho’s feet comfortably wrapped around one of his own. It’s adorable to see this clingy side of the human and Youngjo would be so happy if not for the things he has in his mind. 

The movie is long forgotten, he barely watches it. He zones out most of the time, only speaking whenever the human is asking him about some random things. He is not sure why he can’t just shake the thought away, but he is so curious and just dying to know everything, yet he doesn’t know who would hold the answer to all of his questions.

He doesn’t know how long he has been ignoring Seoho’s calling for him, but then the human tugs at his arm. Youngjo looks up, only to find the human frowning worriedly at him.

“Hey, what? Sorry, I was-”

“Scoot over.” Seoho says simply, telling him to scoot until his back leans against the wall. Youngjo obeys and just then realizes that there is no more movie playing and the TV is switched off. 

Seoho crawls to the bed after dimming the bedroom light, sitting beside him and looking up.

“Are you tired? Do you want to just rest and sleep?”

“No, I’m sorry. I just had a lot in my head. It’s nothing to-”

“But I’m worried.” Seoho whispers while giving him a pleading look, bottom lip trapped between his teeth. 

Youngjo parts his mouth to talk but Seoho beats him again.

“Did something happen? Are you not sleeping well? Is it about work? Can I do any help? Where are you? Are you eating well? Can I ask all of those? I just want to know all of those. I just want to know if I did something wrong…?”

“Oh, no,” Youngjo quickly cradles the human’s face in his hands, thumbs caressing the pale cheeks, “Nothing is your fault. Anything that happens is  _ never your fault _ . I’m sorry I’m being so distant, I just… don’t want to tell you yet. I will tell you, but it’s not the right time.”

He leans to kiss the human on his forehead. “Just by having you with me is helping. Your presence is healing.”

Seoho grips at the t-shirt he is wearing, while nodding his head. 

“Forgive me for worrying you. I will tell you soon. Okay, hmm?” Youngjo whispers, leaning to nudge their noses together. Seoho breaks into a small smile and nods his head.

The god bends his head down to kiss the human and then there it is, another memory.

_ Giggles. Fingers twined. _

_ Tears. Ripping sounds. _

_ Cries. _

_ Youngjo cried. _

He squeezes his eyes shut so tightly at the pain in his head. Stop it, stop it for a while. Let him focus on Seoho. Stop the memories, whatever it is!

Seoho curls his arms around his shoulder to pull him lower. Their lips swipe across one another and Youngjo props himself with his palms against the bed, trying to balance himself as the human pulls him even closer than before.

The memories rush into his head, all together, so powerful, so  _ painful _ , that Youngjo accidentally bites down on the other’s lip. Seoho gasps at the sudden strike of dull pain, but he doesn’t stop the kiss. Youngjo silently apologizes by swiping his tongue along the swollen lip, hoping that it can soothe the wound.

Seoho hums softly, tiny fingers caressing Youngjo on the back of his neck.

_ The stars twinkled _ .

Youngjo pulls away from the kiss, breathing hard while burying his face in the human’s neck. His breathing is warm as he takes in the sweet scent, his lips mumbling the human’s name over and over. Seoho lets himself fall back on the bed, pulling the god along with him. The lips on his neck move, kissing the skin and breathing warmly on it.

The god raises himself to take a better look at the human,  _ his  _ human. Seoho looks so beautiful, staring up at him with half lidded eyes and lips swollen red. He holds on the human’s face, just to take his time looking.

_ The moon was bright that night. _

“I love you so much.” Youngjo whispers while leaning down to kiss him again.

Seoho’s eyes flutter close when lips fall on top of his own, his head tilted up for better access. He lets his fingers dance across the man’s shoulders; lips parting to welcome a deeper kiss that steals his breath away. The night is young, the light is dim, and the sky is cloudy. There are faint sounds of rain hitting the side of the windows, yet the temperature is warm.

His head falls back on the pillow when his hoodie drops to the floor. He doesn’t even get the chance to feel the shiver when Youngjo’s body envelops him once again. Rough fingers and warm lips trail along his skin, making him arch his back up to follow the touch, his lips parting in soundless pleas. Wet tongue dips into every curve and every nook on his body, pulling a strained noise from his throat. 

Youngjo pants loudly. This desire he is feeling right now, the desire to have the human as his wholly; it’s indescribable. He dives right back in, mouth parted to trap any part of the skin with his teeth. Seoho is so pliant and warm beneath him, willing and welcoming, so lovely.

This is one of the many things that they couldn’t do  _ back then _ .

He feels tiny fingers dig into the flesh of his shoulders when he bites down on the human’s hip bone, leaving yet another mark that will last for a few days. He feels like a monster. His desire is uncontrollable. He wants Seoho, as his, fully, eternally.

His palms run along the smooth, tender skin, untouched and so pure. For a moment, he is so afraid to taint the human that he almost stops, but as if sensing his thoughts, Seoho pulls him up so he can lock their lips into another messy, wet kiss that leaves the both of them wanting more.

_ They couldn’t even share a last kiss. _

Youngjo almost roars in agony when every single scene plays in his head like a broken movie. Everything, every fucking torture and suffering, he remembers  _ everything _ .

He let Seoho go  _ once _ .

He won’t do it ever again.

As the desire consumes them, Youngjo lands his hands on the human's knees to part them. Seoho throws his head back at the ministration, feeling wetness and warmth enveloping him. A whine escapes his lips when Youngjo finally leans back, leaving him feeling cold and empty. He is prepared enough, with the tongue and long fingers, that he feels his whole body shakes in anticipation.

Youngjo pushes in, the contact deep and tight, that Seoho can't even hold his choked grunt. Their desire overpowers the pain that no one wants to stop. Can't stop.

Their fingers twine together, palms kissing, and knuckles white. Youngjo digs their hands into the bed, his hips moving in intensity that the human lets out a silent scream. The whole bed shakes, their voices picking up, and the memories all repeat in Youngjo's head when he kisses the human again.

It's like everything is locked inside of Seoho's soul, and the only way to unlock it all is for him to meet Youngjo.

Now it has happened, there is no more secret left.

Desperation. That's the exact word. That is the exact feeling that Youngjo feels as he pushes the human's legs even wider for him to fit in between them, driving quicker without stalling. Seoho trashes his head left and right, saliva trailing down his chin which Youngjo delightfully laps with his tongue. The human parts his mouth, an unspoken sign of invitation that Youngjo just pushes his tongue inside for it to tangle with the mortal's again for the nth time that night.

His hips stutter when Seoho calls for his name in a hoarse, throaty voice. The impact Seoho has on him is incredible, he can't even explain it. It has his whole senses tingling, a sensation that he has never thought to experience. 

The human throws his head back, eyes shut tightly and mouth open in long gasps, and that is just too beautiful. Youngjo stares for a long time, until Seoho is all a weak melting mess, until he himself feels that peak of this whole thing, until he fills the human so deep, until he crumbles down to bury his face into the human's neck, until he sheds his silent tears.

He loves Seoho very, very much, and he vows to never let him go ever again.

Seoho has fallen asleep, shirt draped over him and thick comforter enveloping his bare skin.

Youngjo sits at the edge of the bed, head in his hands and tears in his eyes. He remembers everything now. It's so unfair. Everything, every single thing that happened to them was so unfair. He lost Seoho without being able to do anything to prevent it. He lost his memories without his consent. And Seoho doesn't remember anything at all.

This is planned so sickly, as if a game without any escape, as if constructed for it to never end. 

He is going to end it all at once. No more suffering, no more prolonging things.

He made a promise anyway. A promise that was overdue, too long, that he has this guilt for taking such a long time. He hopes Seoho will forgive him.

The human shifts and whines, probably from the cold, and Youngjo wipes his tears away. He slips under the cover to pull Seoho close against him, keeping his arms wrapped tightly around. Seoho snuggles his face into his neck, breaths coming out in soft little puffs as he sleeps, and Youngjo holds to that one last hope.

"You are safe with me now, love. No one will take you away from me ever again."

He presses a soft kiss on the human's shoulder, where he remembers there was a small star mark in the past, yet it is still there even in this lifetime.

This concludes everything and Youngjo has never been so sure in his entire life.

*

The birds chirping outside of the window wakes Seoho up from his deep, long sleep. There is something in his hair, caressing gently, and he feels disoriented for a moment. When he flips his eyes open, his confusion disperses when he finds his boyfriend lying beside him in bed and staring at him with a smile.

"Morning. Did you sleep well?" Youngjo asks softly.

Seoho smiles with his eyes still half closed and he seeks for more warmth from the other by scooting closer. He rests his head on the other's neck with a content sigh leaving his lips.

"Morning. Hmm." His voice is hoarse. "Best sleep ever."

Youngjo chuckles at his lazy mood and he throws his arms around the man making him a pillow to hug. He sighs contently, almost purring like a cat.

"Are you going back to sleep?"

Seoho doesn't answer him, just breathing steadily into his neck.

"Does it hurt anywhere? Do you feel any pain?" Youngjo asks again, warm hands falling down to trace the remnants of light bruises on the tender skin, all because of his tight grips last night.

Seoho shakes his head. "Only a bit of pain. Don't worry." He murmurs softly, sniffing the scent coming from his boyfriend and unconsciously finding himself smiling at that.

"Tell me if you are hurt somewhere, love."

He nods his head and goes slack against the other, enjoying the cool morning breeze against his bare skin and the personal warmth beside him.

Youngjo watches the human half lying on top of him, love pouring down from his eyes and affection radiating from his every touch. He runs his hands along the human's back, settling on his waist to massage it gently. Seoho shudders at the touch, his lips pursing forward.

"Stop that. It tickles." He protests, in which Youngjo suddenly feels like teasing him even more.

The god brings his hands down, palms cradling the two globes of flesh that feel so tender in his hold. Seoho squeaks in surprise, eyes wide open and lips pouting while he stares at him in betrayal. The fingers clutching on his butt are trying to spread them apart and he whines in embarrassment.

"Stop that!" He grunts, whole face and ears red as he purposely bumps his forehead on the other's chest.

A pure, loud laughter escapes from Youngjo, the sound echoing in the bedroom. He can't handle the human being this adorable.

When he is finally done laughing, he finds that Seoho is staring at him with a wide smile and eyes that speak thousands of meanings. The human leaps up, planting a sloppy kiss on the corner of his lips.

"Oh, how I wish every morning could be like this." He murmurs, slumping back to relax. Youngjo's heart buzzes in happiness at the expectation.

"Do you want to spend more mornings like this? You can just skip work."

Seoho shakes his head, "No, not like that. I just… want to laze around like this with you, kissing you, hugging, anything, as long as it is with you." He beams cutely.

Youngjo swallows thickly. "Yeah? You want that?"

"Mmh," Seoho hums lowly, the voice vibrating in his chest as he closes his eyes when their lips brush together in the softest touch, "I can go anywhere with you." 

The god hugs him tightly. "I love you."

Seoho smiles against his mouth. "I love you more."

Youngjo pulls at the soiled bed sheets and puts them away, all the while being watched by the smiling human who is currently bundled up in a thick blanket of comforter. Their breakfast is on the way, a delivery man currently driving to chase the hunger away. No one has taken any shower just yet because as per Seoho's reason, he wants to  _ keep Youngjo's scent longer on him _ , in which the god kisses him senselessly that he loses his breath and has tears in his eyes.

The breakfast arrives just in time Seoho's stomach grumbles in desperation. Youngjo takes the food into the kitchen before coming back to the bedroom to fetch the spoiled little prince.

"Come on, let's feed that monster in your tummy." He says while pulling the fallen blanket up to cover the teeth marks on the shoulder. Seoho gracefully clings on his boyfriend while being held into the kitchen.

Youngjo's lap is a more comfortable cushion for him to sit on rather than the chair so he is content staying there. The breakfast is yummy, with Seoho eating it happily and swinging his legs everywhere. Youngjo doesn't really eat because he says he is not hungry but the human keeps feeding him some, and while not being fed, he is burrowing his whole face into the human's shoulder while leaving open mouthed kisses all along.

His arms are all wrapped around the human, pulling him flushed into his chest. He needs this closeness, he needs to assure this dark cloud in his head that Seoho is safe with him. He is not sure how long it will be this calm so he needs to move quicker.

_ They _ can see anything.

"You are spacing out?" Seoho's voice calls for him.

"Nope," he quickly denies it, not wanting to worry his lover again, "Just thinking."

"About?"

"You. That's all." Well, that is actually not wrong.

Seoho huffs shyly, biting down on his coffee mug. It seems like he still can't handle sweet words, just like he used to be.

"What is there to think about me," he mumbles.

"Oh, a lot." Youngjo squeezes his waist, "You are in my mind 24/7, love."

"My god, that's so cheesy." Seoho groans, but the smile on his face betrays him. Youngjo laughs and leaves exaggerating kisses all over his jaws and chin, pulling loud panicked giggles from the human, before he tilts his head to kiss him fully on his lips.

"Mm, yummy." The god murmurs against the parted lips, licking them slightly.

"Perv!" The human exclaims, but still reaches to cup Youngjo's face in his small hands and continue to plant kisses on his mouth.

“I’m talking about the food. What are you thinking about?” The god pretends to be shocked, eyes narrowing.

Seoho stutters and gives up trying to come up with any answer, in which Youngjo laughs and just scoops the human up from his lap. He runs back to the bedroom while laughing like a mad man, all the way ignoring Seoho’s pleadings to  _ please stop tickling _ .

*

The human is in the shower when Youngjo hears the phone ring. It’s not his character to snoop around, but for once, his instinct tells him to look at the caller ID.

It’s Dongju.

He reaches for the ringing device, swiping the screen to accept the call.

“Seohooo! Are you awake?”

“Seoho is currently showering.” Youngjo answers, and the line is silent for a moment that he almost thinks the call is disconnected.

“Why are you answering his phone?” Dongju asks in a flat tone. Not that Youngjo thinks the human will be nice to him, but at least he is cooperating.

“I know you.” The god mutters into the phone.

“Of course. I thought we had that introduction back then?”

Youngjo takes a deep breath. “I know who  _ you _ are. Who you were.”

Dongju goes silent for quite a long time and Youngjo lets him. He focuses on the sound of Dongju’s breathing picking up its speed and he decides not to mention it.

“I don’t understand what you are talking about. Are you drunk?” Comes Dongju’s response after a while.

Youngjo feels his mouth ticks at the apparent answer. Of course. 

“Well I might be. I’ve been imagining things lately. A lot of things that I don’t think could ever happen. I could tell you a story or two sometimes later.”

The sound of the shower stops and then he can hear Seoho’s singing voice getting louder.

“Seoho’s done with his shower. Hang up.” He says curtly.

“Wait,” Dongju hurriedly calls for him. 

Youngjo waits. Somehow, he already knows what the human is going to say.

“Just… be careful. And mind your surroundings. Promise me.” Dongju’s voice is desperate as he speaks and Youngjo takes a deep breath.

“I will. Thank you for your concern.”

The call ends and he puts the phone back to its original place, right at the time Seoho emerges from the bathroom with a towel over his head. His bare feet pad around the cold floor.

"Come here." Youngjo calls while rising up from his spot on the bed and pushes the human to sit down. Seoho looks up through his messy damp bangs and the god chuckles while running the towel to dry the dripping hair.

The human hums softly, toes curling and fingers gripping on his sweatpants. Youngjo takes a step forward when Seoho pulls at his pants. Once close enough, the human puts his head on the god's stomach and hugs his hips with both arms.

"Hm? Still not awake?" Youngjo asks gently, his voice dripping with affection.

"Just want a hug." Seoho murmurs, his tone light and happy. Youngjo puts the towel down and caresses his head.

"What's your plan for today? Are you going somewhere? Dongju called earlier and I told him you were in the shower."

Seoho shakes his head. "I just want to stay in and cuddle."

Youngjo smiles, "Will I ever get the chance to have a change of outfit considering that you are not going to let me walk out of this place?"

The human lets out a cheeky  _ hehe _ laugh and shakes his head no.

"You are not allowed to step out of here!"

"Well, I don't mind being held captive by my cute, ticklish boyfriend."

Seoho yelps when there are hands hovering by his sides and he is ready to defend himself, but Youngjo just cradles his face and tilts it up so he can press a long kiss on the human's forehead.

"Cute." He whispers when he sees the pinkish blush creeping along Seoho's neck and ears.

He's got to hurry, but a little moment with his human won't hurt.

*

Youngjo notices something.

Seoho has always been a little clumsy, but he is never this clumsy. He has always been on the verge of hurting himself but the invisible protection that once confused Youngjo was always preventing it. Yet lately, Seoho is all hurting himself.

It's like… whatever kind of protection he has around him weakens.

Youngjo tests it for a bit. He flicks his fingers to make a book drop from the counter and it directly falls on top of the human's foot. He winces when Seoho lets out a whine at the sudden weight on his foot.

The god has an idea about the sudden change. It might be because of him regaining his memories, and also might be because of him claiming Seoho in a most intimate way. It's like he has left his mark and energy all around him, penetrating right into his soul, and breaking that protection bubble right from the inside. He enforces his power on the human, his own aura lingers, and his presence is always around Seoho lately.

The protection weakens. The barrier is thinning. 

And the time is running out.

He has to take Seoho's soul before  _ they _ would be coming for him.

With the way the protection is too weak, it makes it easier for him to  _ hurt _ his beloved, as much as he doesn't want to do it. 

He is nervous. He has never ever had the thought of doing something like this, but for Seoho's safety, he has to do it. 

It is time to end it all.

Youngjo stands at the side road, his heart beating in his chest. His plan is quick and simple, and he hopes his love won't feel so much pain. He has to do it in the most normal way ever to avoid suspicion from  _ them _ .

Seoho is there, at the other side of the road, skipping happily like the ray of sunshine he is. Youngjo watches and feels his heart wrench in pain at the way this is going to end.

"Seoho, my love." He whispers under his breath, yet the human hears him. He lifts an excited hand to wave and quickly cross the road to approach him.

Youngjo suddenly disappears.

The traffic light changes the color.

The car tires screech.

The god closes his eyes.

It's silent in his head. He can only listen to Seoho's soft, tiny panting voice.

_ "Youngjo…?" _

_ I am here, my love. Close your eyes and trust me. _

_ Seoho obeys him. _

_ We are going home. You and me. _

Youngjo catches the tiny shimmering soul into his palm and keeps it safe in his hold. 

It's time for him to go back to the Underworld.

Before he leaves, he sees Dongju standing not so far away, and the human gives him a reassuring nod, which Youngjo replies of his own.

He opens the Gate of Hell and walks through it, without realizing that  _ Dongju is a human  _ and he is not supposed to be able to see him in his god form _. _

*

It's dark.

Cold and dark.

Voices, screams, and the sounds coming from the fireplace startle him awake.

Seoho wakes up.

And he is in a whole different world.

The bed is wide and soft. There is a silk blanket covering him. At the bedside, there is a cup of red liquid drink. The room is dark, completely in pitch black. No curtains are open. Everything is eerie silent.

He doesn't even dare to breathe loudly to not disturb something invisible that he can feel.

He is nervous, but he is  _ not scared _ . He is not sure why he is not scared despite the unknown territory that he is in right now.

The only name that he has in his mind is what he blurts out. Because he clearly said he will  _ trust  _ him.

"...Youngjo?" His voice is tiny, unsure, and it echoes all over the empty, wide place. 

"I am here, my love." The answer comes and he is sure that is certainly Youngjo's voice.

"Where are you? I can't see you," he swallows thickly. It is dark, he almost can't even see anything and he is wary of bumping into something.

"You can find me. Find your way to me. I am not going anywhere."

Seoho curls his toes in the ground, feeling lost and hopeless in this darkness but he just wants to see Youngjo so he walks. He walks forward, not knowing where to head and just keeps moving until his hands come in contact with doors.

"Come in, love."

He hears Youngjo's voice and that gives him the courage to push the door open. The sudden light blinds his eyes for a moment and he shuts them for a moment, hands still held in the air. His sight is temporarily restricted for a moment, but he can feel the warmth, he can hear the sounds of fire licking, and he can feel Youngjo's presence.

When his eyes are open, he is a bit disoriented with his surroundings, but finally he spots Youngjo and the man is sitting on a black throne, a black crown on his head, and he just… looks different yet still the same.

"Youngjo?" He calls in a timid voice, suddenly unsure whether he is allowed to speak loudly.

Youngjo smiles and holds out a hand. "Come here."

Seoho lets the doors close softly behind his back as he takes some careful steps forward in the beginning. When he is sure that Youngjo is real and not some fragment of his imagination, he walks surer to approach him.

The moment he grabs onto the held out hand, his anxiety about the whole thing just disperses. A sigh leaves him when Youngjo cradles him close and hugs him. There it is, his favorite warmth. 

"How are you feeling?" Youngjo asks, lips moving against the side of his temple.

Seoho clutches on the other's robe at his back.

"Confused. Disoriented. And I… I… miss you." He stuffs his face right into Youngjo's shoulder, seeking reassurance.

Youngjo hums softly.

"Where… Where is this? Youngjo, where are we? What is this place?" He asks in confusion, his eyes wandering around the foreign place.

His arms are peeled off from his tight clutch on the man and he is this close to whining about the lost contact, but then Youngjo holds onto him firmly. His eyes are red, he just noticed, and he is staring with such intensity in his gaze.

"Seoho, I need you to listen to me. Can you do that?"

He swallows but nods his head. He doesn't have any single idea about what is actually happening here. Youngjo is the only one here he knows and trusts.

"Should I… Should I feel scared?" He asks in a tiny voice.

Youngjo shakes his head. "Don't be scared. But please, focus on me. Keep me in your mind. Whatever happens. Okay? Can you promise me?"

"O-Okay…" His voice comes out more trembling than what he thinks it will. He is not sure of what to expect, but the look in Youngjo’s eyes is not something that he particularly likes.

There are hands on his jaws, gentle just like how he knows, then his head is tilted upwards. 

Youngjo leans down and Seoho unconsciously lets his eyes flutter close, somehow his body is reacting way faster than his mind.

The moment Youngjo’s lips fall upon his, bursts of colors, images,  _ memories _ , spread in his head. His eyes flip open wide. His instinct is telling him to back away, but Youngjo keeps a firm arm around him so that he can only stay still.

It’s painful; the memories.

*

_ The moon and stars. _

_ “We are the stars,” he had said, smiling up to Youngjo who was seated beside him, their arms brushing together. Youngjo looked so pretty tonight, with the halo around him and he looked so bright that he was afraid the Moon would be offended with how Youngjo was taking the spotlight. _

_ “I won’t be offended.” The Moon whispered, “The two of you are brighter than me.” _

_ “Don’t say that.” Youngjo spun around to stare at the Moon. “You are brighter, higher than us two combined. We are thankful for your protection every night.” _

_ The Moon chuckled softly. “I only provide protection for true love.” _

_ Youngjo turned back to him, his white wings fluttering so beautifully that he had a moment of awe. _

_ “Let’s go.” Youngjo said while offering a hand to him, in which he gladly took. Together, they flew a bit higher, giggling as they quickly hid behind the Moon who had so kindly let them be together at night. _

_ The Moon decided to shine brighter tonight, to make it hard for anyone to see what was actually happening behind her. _

_ Youngjo took his face in his hands and he closed his eyes when Youngjo ever so gently placed a soft kiss on his mouth. His lips trembled and his own white wings fluttered to try to keep him elevated because he felt like he was losing his power to stay still. _

_ “You are really an angel.” Youngjo had whispered into his ear and he felt like laughing at the words, because they were angels. _

_ They were angels… and feelings were forbidden. _

_ It was inevitable, for them to be catching feelings. They were inseparable. They went on duties together and they were the best of friends. They spent all of their time literally together. _

_ No one saw it coming. They went on duties together just like usual, and in a blink of an eye, Youngjo kissed him. He was frozen. Despite how Youngjo was one of the bravest angels he had ever known, he swore he could see nervousness in those eyes. _

_ “I really like you.” Youngjo murmured under his breath. He was not sure what to do, eyes still opened wide because he was not over the shock. They had just… crossed the rule. _

_ “I’m sorry.” The whisper coming from Youngjo was like a wake up call for him. He quickly grabbed onto Youngjo’s arm when the other was about to fly away from him. _

_ “No, I…” He stuttered, “I was… surprised. Youngjo, is it…" He paused, looking around, "Is it okay…?" _

_ Youngjo looked unsure as well but his words were just so calm. "I don't know about that but I know about my feelings. I know and I am sure of it." _

_ He gulped and pondered about it. Youngjo had always been one of his favorite angels and he could never explain why he was always so jittery when the other was around. He thought he idolized Youngjo because of how brave and diligent he was… but he was wrong. _

_ "You don't have to feel the same. No one would know. We can just forget it." Youngjo said and he sounded so sad. _

_ He didn't like seeing Youngjo so sad and it hurt him when he thought about what if the other angel left him alone. _

_ "No, Youngjo, I… I… like you too," he whispered ever so softly, so afraid that anyone would hear him. _

_ The smile spread across Youngjo's face was so pretty that his legs moved on their own. He kissed Youngjo on his cheek. It was one of the bravest things he had ever done in his entire life as an angel.  _

_ He had always been a timid angel, one who was always being left behind, one who was so shy that he barely had friends, one who was not brave enough to explore. Youngjo was there though. He stood in front of him to lead him and sometimes, he stood at the back to make sure that he was fine. _

_ Youngjo had always been revolving around his life. _

_ "I like you so much." Youngjo hugged him and whispered those words into his ear. _

_ The Moon was one of two who knew about them. They had always flown up the sky at night, so high that they met the Moon and the stars, away from others' eyes. The Moon had so kindly and gracefully gave them the place to hide behind her. The nights were the only time they could be themselves without having to pretend. They could be lovers at night, holding hands, sharing kisses, and talking about their dreams. They hid themselves and pretended to be stars twinkling up at the night sky. _

_ The other one who knew about them was their friend. It was all accidental. Their friend was following them at night, just to prank them, but he definitely didn't expect to find them kissing softly and hiding behind the Moon. _

_ It was shocking at first, of course, but he was their friend and he vowed to never ever tell anyone about them. He was very happy for them though. _

_ Angels were not allowed to feel a different kind of love towards one another. They were not allowed to be biased. Love could blind them and make them greedy. It erased the pureness that they should have. It wouldn't end well. _

_ There would _ _ be punishment. _

_ Youngjo was late for their nightly meet up and he waited behind the Moon. He has missed Youngjo for the whole day, couldn't stop thinking about him, and was just so worried over nothing. He didn't know why but he has been so anxious for the whole day. He wished for the night to come quicker, so he could fly up to see Youngjo. _

_ Arms wrapped around him and he yelped in surprised. Youngjo left a soft kiss on his cheek and he turned around to greet him with a hug. _

_ "I have been waiting for you." He said, smiling to his lover who was staring at him. _

_ "I am sorry for making you wait." _

_ "No, that's okay. I could-" _

_ They felt it before they heard it. There was someone else. _

_ They spun around and found their friend, who was looking at them with tears in his eyes and mouth parted. He tried to speak to warn them but there was no sound coming out. He couldn't even move his limbs. It was like he was being controlled by someone. _

_ Youngjo was quicker but he couldn't defend himself. An invisible power cuffed their wrists and he saw his lover struggling to break free. _

_ The elders were here. _

_ They were found out. _

_ Youngjo grunted when the cuff was tightening around his wrists. He tried to come close to help his lover, but the elders stopped him. _

_ "Angels were supposed to stay pure. You have tainted another angel. Do you admit your crime?" _

_ Youngjo looked up with a scowl on his face. _

_ "Screw you!" He screamed and right after, he was struck with lightning to his chest. _

_ Seeing Youngjo being treated that way, he quickly fell on his knees. _

_ "P-Please spare him," he had begged, tears clouding his vision. He couldn't bear seeing his lover in pain like that. _

_ "Do you admit to your crime?" The question was for him this time. And he nodded his head. _

_ "Y-Yes-" _

_ "What? My feeling is not a crime! Stop forcing him to think otherwise!" Youngjo shouted in anger. _

_ "Youngjo, please stop," he begged, "Please just stop talking. I don't want you to get hurt." _

_ The elders stepped closer to him. "You admitted your crime. Therefore, you would have to go through your punishment. You shall live as a human and experience life and death eternally. The cycle would never stop." _

_ It was okay, he thought. He could endure that, he thought. As long as Youngjo was not hurting, they might even meet as humans.  _

_ A gasp left his lips when the elders cut his wings. It was painful. It was unbearable. The pain caused tears to drop down to his trembling hands, uncontrollable. _

_ "No, no, no," Youngjo kept chanting the words, over and over again. _

_ Despite the pain he was feeling, he glanced into Youngjo's teary eyes and he offered him one last, pained smile. _

_ "I love you, Youngjo. Promise me you would find me. Until we meet again, love." _

_ Youngjo roared in agony seeing his soul fly up and his body slowly dispersed into the air. He kept his eyes locked on his lover and even though he no longer could hear anything, the last thing he saw was Youngjo breaking the spell and summoning a spear and starting to fight back against the elders. _

_ "Angel Youngjo, your worst punishment shall befall upon you. You will be trapped in the Underworld eternally." _

*

Youngjo leans back, carefully watching. 

Seoho's whole body is trembling and he has his eyes wide open, expression so far and empty, tears unstoppably running down his face. It might be too much for Seoho to receive all of his memories at one time, but it has to be done.

Shaky, pale fingers try to find purchase on something, just anything.

"...Yo- youngjo…?" He calls in a soft, timid voice, clearly shaken.

The God of Death nods his head. He holds on those trembling hands.

"Yes…  _ Gunmin _ ?"

That name, so ancient, so foreign, so strange on his tongue. Seoho's whole face scrunches up as he cries a river, his lips as pale as the snow.

"No, n-no, not that name," he chokes out with a gasp, his trembling fingers clutching on Youngjo's robe, "Not that, my n-name is no longer  _ Gunmin _ \- I am- I..."

"My love, you are back." Youngjo whispers in relief, pulling the other into his arms. He lets Seoho cry into his shoulder, those tiny, frail hands gripping his robe so tightly.

"Youngjo, Youngjo, Young...jo, you are alright!" He chokes out desperately. It’s hard for him to talk properly, the memories still haunting him in the back of his head. It feels so fresh, as if it had just happened yesterday.

They were happy and so in love; yet it was taken away from them in one single moment.

The God of Death curls his both arms around his lover, gathering him so close. He is so afraid that Seoho will be taken away from him again, but then he remembers that they are in his realm and no one can ever touch them again.

“You are back.” He whispers in a broken tone, a tear escapes from the corner of his eye. This is the moment that he has been waiting for so many centuries.

Finally, his heart is at ease.

The throne is occupied by two people despite the size of it only fitting for one person. Seoho doesn’t want to let his hand go no matter what happens and Youngjo can’t be that cruel to take that one reassurement away from his lover. 

“What happened after that?” Seoho has asked once he can get a hold of himself, once the tears have stopped falling. Youngjo reaches over to wipe the remaining dried tears from his face.

“You were taken away, to somewhere I didn’t know,” he starts off softly, hands cradling Seoho’s face in a gentle grip, “they sent me here, without any memories left.”

Seoho takes a shaky breath. “What did they do to you?”

“They burnt my wings after they ripped them off from me.” He recites, shuddering a bit at the memory of it. Seoho reaches to run his hands through the robe, trying to find anything on the back but Youngjo shakes his head.

“There is nothing left. They made sure of it. Nothing that could remind me about the past. They made a pretty good job about it. Well, unless one, and that was locking up the memories in your soul.” He murmurs in a low voice. Seoho shakes his head. 

“I fought back,” Youngjo says with a soft, empty laugh, “I trashed that place and I was called the betrayer. I tainted that place. And they sent me here, alone, clueless about everything.”

Seoho bends his head down, staring at the way he is holding so tight on the other's hand.

"I became a human. Over and over again, repeating for centuries. They didn't want to let me live properly but at the same time let my soul live calmly without knowing anything. I have been born and died so many times."

"It was destiny for me to see you that day." Youngjo says softly, "If not, we wouldn't cross paths and the cycle will repeat again."

"Maybe the Moon Goddess helped us this time." Seoho says with a tiny smile.

The god stares at his lover for a good minute.

"How are you feeling right now?"

Seoho is startled by his question, his eyes growing so big. Youngjo is not a god for nothing. He can sense it, no matter how hard Seoho is trying to conceal it.

"I…" His voice is too small, as he lifts his head up to stare into Youngjo's eyes. His gaze is shaky.

"Youngjo, I am… terrified. Is this allowed? Are we… Are we  _ allowed… _ ?" He asks, as if he is afraid that someone might hear him. The trauma is clear in his face, his pupils shaking, and lips pale as the white snow in the winter.

"Seoho, love," Youngjo calls softly while caressing his cheeks, "We are in the Underworld. This is my realm. No one can enter without my permission."

"But… I… I'm so terrified that they would take you away again. I don't want them to hurt you." His eyes are glassy and Youngjo is quick to wipe the tears away before they could even fall.

"No one would even take me away from you, vice versa. I have the power and I will keep you safe no matter what."

Seoho swallows the bile in his throat.

The throne room door is knocked and the both of them stare at the sudden disturbance.

It's Geonhak.

"Pardon me for bothering, but someone is requesting to see you at the gate, Raven. Cerberus won't stop growling."

Youngjo's eyebrows are furrowed in confusion. Who would be nice enough to want to see him? Who would be stupid enough to willingly step foot in the Underworld? Who would have the power to-

"Oh." He breathes out in realization, suddenly sensing that familiar soul waiting to see him. "Bring him in, Geonhak, please."

Seoho grips at his hand. "Youngjo, who…?"

The god nods his head. "You will see."

Geonhak returns through the doors, this time with someone who is so familiar to the both of them. Seoho rises up to his feet, his hands coming up to cover his mouth in disbelief.

"Dongju…"

"Hey." Dongju calls out hesitantly, the smile forced and strained.

Seoho carefully walks towards him and throws his arms around his friend to hug him. Youngjo watches the scene unfold as he stays in his throne.

"Dongju, oh, Dongju…" Seoho calls in relief, hugging the other tightly. He is so glad to see his friend again even though being here.

"You are suffocating me,  _ Gunmin _ -ah." Dongju chuckles softly, calling him by the old name yet they can feel the bitterness in his voice.

"Dongju, you are  _ Xion _ . How could I miss that point?" Seoho beats himself over the fact that his friend in the human world is actually also his friend from the past.

"How could you know? They didn't leave even a single memory for you. They wiped it all." Dongju says while taking a heavy, deep breath.

Seoho takes a step back. "How did you remember me? Didn't you forget everything too?"

Dongju swallows. "They kept my memories intact. That is my punishment."

This takes Youngjo's attention completely.

"They did what?" He blurts out, rising up from his seat on the throne.

Dongju sends him a look. "My punishment is to be by your side forever," he glances back to Seoho, "and they kept my memories so I could remember every single thing that happened to you. Every single lifetime we spent together, being born and die, again and again, until all I can feel is guilt."

"They made you a puppet." Youngjo takes a deep breath.

"They wanted me to remember that guilt of not giving a warning to the both of you.  _ Angels in love were greedy creatures. _ They told me to live in my guilt for the rest of my soul for letting it happen and causing your souls to suffer this way."

Seoho grabs a hold on his friend's hand. He can feel it trembles.

"I'm sorry." Dongju whispers hoarsely, "I didn't mean for them to find out. I… I couldn't do anything back then. I still can't do anything right now." He starts crying in guilt.

"No, Dongju. It was not your fault." Seoho says, in which the other shakes his head.

"But it was. If only  _ Xion _ was not so weak back then, nothing of this would happen. I could have prevented it all. I could have warned you. But no. They came to me demanding me to tell where you two were and they locked my tongue so that I couldn't speak," he lifts his head up to stare at both Youngjo and Seoho, "I have lived my lifetimes in regret for not being able to save you."

"Xion, it was not your fault and you know that." Youngjo says, a frown visible on his face. 

"If I could turn back the time, I would do anything to keep you safe. You wouldn't have to live as a human for centuries, Gunmin. And Youngjo didn't have to be trapped here."

"They found out about that. Not because of you telling them about us. I understand. There was nothing you could do at that time." Seoho tries to calm his friend, but Dongju shakes his head.

“Do you know why I am here now?” He asks in a silent voice. Seoho doesn’t like that look on his friend’s face, it makes him nervous.

“Why…?”

Dongju takes a sharp intake of breath before saying, “The elders lost the energy of your soul.”

At that, Youngjo steps down from his throne to stand beside his lover; his eyes menacing and careful.

“What did they want?” The God of Death says instead, hand reaching to hold on Seoho’s wrist.

“They came to me,” Dongju says while bending his head down, “and they told me to deliver the message to the both of you. They knew you took his soul, Youngjo. They knew everything.”

Seoho unconsciously takes a step back.

“What’s their message? What do they want to tell me?” Youngjo asks.

“They,” Dongju swallows, “They requested your presence, the two of you, at the Border. It’s a talk that is already long overdue, but… but they demanded your presence.”

The elders demand the two of them to see them… they are using Dongju as a puppet… Seoho almost can’t process it all.

“Why do they want to see us that badly that they even have to send you here? I… I don’t understand.”

“Don’t you know the true reason why they sent your soul to live as a human?” Dongju asks, in which Seoho shakes his head no. Dongju blows a sigh. 

“They wouldn’t let you meet Youngjo no matter what happens. You were born as a human, with me by your side, for centuries. I don’t know how many lifetimes we spent together as humans, but never once did they let us cross paths with Youngjo. I was so wary at first, I admitted it, when Youngjo appeared out of nowhere in this lifetime,” he shares a look with the god.

Youngjo understands now why Dongju was acting that way before.

“I had been waiting for the time to see you again, Youngjo, but I couldn’t help to worry whether your presence was some sort like a trick from the elders to test my  _ loyalty _ to them. It had been so many centuries… and you suddenly popped up in this one lifetime without any warning. I might have been a human, but I could feel the energy.”

“So, you actually knew everything since the beginning.”

“Yes, and if you were the test from the elders, I was afraid that they would separate Seoho away from me. I couldn’t even continue to live the rest of my soul if I were to lose you. I still have to finish my last task.” He says, while reaching for Seoho’s hand, and for Youngjo’s as well. He puts their hands together.

“Please don’t give up this time.” He pleads shakily.

Youngjo stares at the sincere plea in Dongju’s eyes.

“Not again. Never.”

The god feels it before he ever hears it. The ground shakes and he snaps his head towards the throne room’s doors. He can see nothing through it, but he can feel it.

“They are coming.”

*

Seoho can’t chase the anxiety and fear he is feeling right now. They are standing right behind the gates and Youngjo will take him to cross the way to the Border. 

"Youngjo," he spins around to face the other, "I… I am scared." He admits softly.

The god gives him a reassuring stare. "I am more worried than afraid. Are you sure you want to see them on your own? Not that I'm going to leave you so far but are you really sure?"

"I don't know," he shakes his head, "I just need to do this alone. All this time, it had been you fighting alone against them. I had always been hiding behind your back and I don't want to do that again. It is time for me to be brave."

"You don't have to do this alone. I can always be with you."

Seoho reaches to hold his hands. "Let me do it on my own."

Youngjo sighs. He can't do anything about it now. He knows that the elders wouldn't be able to touch them but he is still a bit wary about it.

"Alright. Just know that I will be just behind you."

"Thank you." Seoho speaks while lifting himself up to press their lips together. "I love you."

The god smiles. "I love you."

The temperature at the Border is between cold and hot. Seoho takes a few steps forward, just leaving an inch between the Underworld and the start of the Border. He feels safer with his feet in the Underworld territory and he is going to keep it that way.

" _ Angel Gunmin _ ." The oh so familiar voice speaks and he lifts his head up.

The elders are there, standing behind the Border without crossing the gap. They couldn't even imagine getting closer to the Underworld.

"It's been a while." Seoho congratulates himself for keeping a steady tone of his voice.

"You had been living your punishment for 109 times as a human and your soul had been taken away forcefully by the God of Death."

"I see that you are keeping the counts." Seoho says.

"Of course. Your punishment has yet to be finished-"

" _ Will  _ it ever finish? Will you ever let my soul go even if I have to live as a human for a few more centuries? Or are you going to keep this forever?"

The elders say nothing for a second, before deciding to speak of, " _ That creature _ must have put you under his spell for you to even think-"

"That creature!" Seoho cuts them off, his voice rising up, "That creature is my lover. He was once an angel under your care! He has a name and it is  _ Youngjo _ ." He hisses lowly. 

"We don't condone such things under our care."

"So you made him a fallen angel and you dropped him into the pit of loneliness for so many centuries??"

"He clearly had crossed the most important rule-"

"And I did  _ not _ ?" He asks again, his patience slowly running out.

The elders seem to be really hating on Youngjo, they seem to be closing an eye over the fact that it was not only Youngjo who had gone against the rule.

"Angel Gunmin-"

"I am no longer an angel and my name is no longer Gunmin." He breathes out. "Gunmin died the moment you ripped my wings and dropped me into the human world."

The elders shut their mouth for a second. His breathing is loud for himself to hear.

"Stop trying to protect me. I know you are doing it all this time." He says. He realizes it, bit by bit, after all his memories come back. He doesn’t have almost all of the memories from the many lifetimes he had spent, but he can feel it; that same energy surrounding him. The elders must have put some kind of spell to protect him from Youngjo, and that’s actually very cruel to him.

Spending, what, 109 lifetimes without being able to meet Youngjo even for once? Do the elders hate Youngjo so much that they even use this trick to prevent them from meeting one another? It’s been so many centuries, the least they could do is to give up and let them be. The two of them are no longer angels anyway.

“Stop trying to control my soul. You have lost all the rights to do so the moment you hurt us.”

“Gunmin, why?” One of the elders asks and Seoho shakes his head.

He takes a step back as he hears that exact voice. The voice of someone who he used to look up to the most, but that someone was also the one who had hurt him and betrayed his trust.

“I know I made a mistake in your eyes,” he says with a sigh, “I know there was a rule that angels couldn’t get involved in useless feelings. Angels were supposed to stay pure and plain, and by being involved in feelings, they would become greedy creatures.”

That certain elder gives him a look. Seoho shakes his head again.

“But I couldn’t control what I felt. Not then, not now, not ever. The feeling I felt was love and so is now. I’m sure no matter how many lifetimes you put me into, my feelings will remain the same.”

He feels warmth, comforting and reassuring, not so far away from his back, and he knows Youngjo is there keeping him safe.

“How does one change their feeling? Tell me.” He whispers, “ _ If hating one is a sin, why does loving someone is also considered a sin? _ Tell me, Uncle.”

The elder, someone he really cherished, someone he considered his own uncle, was also someone who had put him into endless torture.

“Gunmin-” The elder tries to step forward, a hand reaching out.

Seoho feels arms wrapping around him, enveloping him into the safest embrace.

Youngjo has made his appearance visible, eyes red and black crown sitting proudly on top of his head, and he is keeping his hold tight around him. His arms are so warm and reassuring, and that makes Seoho just lean back into the hug, without thinking further.

_ “Do not even think of coming closer.”  _ Youngjo warns, his voice so low that it serves as a silent warning. “This is my realm. The very second you try anything, fire will envelop you,  _ angels _ .”

Seoho keeps his eyes locked with his uncle and he shakes his head when the man gives him one last pleading look. Does he think that he would want to go back with them up there? There is no way he will want that. There is also no way for a soul that has entered the Underworld to even leave the realm.

He has entered the Underworld and this is his home now.

The elders can feel the fire licking at the Border and they take a step back.

Seoho turns on his heels, tearing his gaze away from them. He is done here, his last job is done. All he wants to do right now is to fall completely into Youngjo’s arms, and that is exactly what he does.

Youngjo keeps his arms around him for all the remaining time that the elders take to leave the Border. Once they no longer feel the elders’ presence, does Seoho breathe out a loud sigh.

“I did it.” He says, tone shaky, as he lifts his head up, “I defended you this time.”

“That you did.” The God of Death says, running a hand to caress his head. Seoho smiles wider, his hands still trembling but he feels lighter, his chest doesn’t constrict anymore, and he just wants to kiss Youngjo for the rest of his soul.

“I didn’t give up. I stayed for good. I chose you this time.” He speaks, suddenly feeling so choked with emotion that his words break in the middle of it all. He is not sure where this urge to cry is coming from, but the tears are of relief and not sadness. He is so relieved that he did the right thing.

"You did and I am so proud of you, my love." Youngjo mutters, leaning down to pepper kisses all over his face.

Seoho tries to step back to avoid those, a giggle tipping at the tip of his tongue, but when the God of Death kisses his closed eyes ever so slowly, chasing his tears away, he stays still.

"I got you back in my arms." Youngjo has whispered and that is enough for Seoho to throw both his arms around the other.

"Love you." He whispers so sincerely, he is so, so happy that he can feel and say those words without having to fear anything else.

He is so happy that finally, in this lifetime, he has a place to call  _ home  _ and it’s no other than Youngjo.

After spending so many lifetimes, he can have the love he deserves.

*

Dongju stands at the corner of the Border. The elders are waiting for his answer.

"Angel Xion, tell us your choice."

Does he have any choice really? He has stepped foot into the Underworld and he is just as good as dead so why do they ask him as if he could make a decision?

His soul has been a puppet for all this time; being sent to the human world and being sent to the Underworld to relay a message.

What choice does he have right now?

"He is coming with me." A voice has spoken and Dongju spins around to see who it is. 

It's the one who brought him in earlier; the soul leader. The man walks towards him and stops just a gap beside him, all the while with his eyes on the man.

The elders stare at the man.

"It is a surprise to meet you here,  _ Angel Leedo _ ."

Dongju stares wide eyed at the man who doesn't seem to be affected by those words.

"Angel doesn't seem to suit me now, don't you think? I don't go by the name of Leedo anymore. I'm Geonhak, but you guys don't have the right to mention any name of mine either." He spits out the last part with disdain.

The soul leader glances at him and Dongju swallows at the sudden attention.

"Come with me. We are going back inside to see Raven."

Dongju is this close to nod his head, but the elders start talking again.

"Is this your choice, Xion?"

He bites his bottom lip and fiddles with his fingers nervously. The soul leader waits, eyes locked on him.

"You don't give me any choice anyway." He says and spins around to follow the soul leader.

"Very well."

The elders leave quicker than he expects and he feels slightly hurt at how unimportant he is to them. Just another useless angel who was used to the extent.

"Don't think too much about them." The soul leader speaks, "Let's go." 

Dongju nods his head and trails behind the man.

"Uh, sir, but where do I go now?"

"Just follow me." The man says while glancing back through his shoulder, "You are my responsibility now."

Dongju blinks and thinks, ah that's right, the soul leader brings dead souls through the gate into the Underworld. He certainly is his responsibility now.

"Raven might be busy, so we have some spare time. While waiting, what about you tell me about how your life as an angel and as a human went? For the payback, I could tell you how I ended up here. How about that?"

The soul leader offers him a tiny smile and Dongju blows out a sigh, something tight unknot in his chest.

"Sure."

*

_ The God of Death, the sole ruler of the Underworld. _

_ They call him Raven. _

_ It was said that just with a single look, he could have you controlled and puppeted. A soft whisper from him would have you frozen and his words were the rules. No one could defy him. His shadow was huge, dark, just like his black wings. _

_ He was the most feared creature of death. _

_ Or is he? _

_ Recently, he is known as one of the softest gods to ever exist. His mood is always up and he barely complains about the millions of noises in his head… all because of the presence of his lover. _

_ The throne has been Raven's for as long as everyone remembers. Souls of dead people are all coming back to him. He controls them. He owns them. People die following their destiny, where, when, why, and how, and the souls will enter his realm. _

_ Now, the ruler of the realm includes Sir Seoho, the only one who can control the Raven. _

_ Sometimes, Raven cheats on Destiny too. Just because he can. Just because… he is the ruler of the Underworld? Who can deny him when the consequence is something no one wants to face? Definitely no creature would try to come his way. _

_ He rules his realm, The Underworld, together with his lover. _

_ He is Raven; the God of Death. _

**Author's Note:**

> Thank for coming this far! Have a nice Christmas!
> 
> twt: [@kumo_is_kumo](https://twitter.com/kumo_is_kumo)


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